The Gallade That Was Too Passive
by TheKingCati
Summary: This is the story of a world conquered by Pokemon, and they have colonized that world. The Pokemon have created their own civilizations in that world, and two Pokemon, who are polar opposites, are kicked out of their communities. (Disclaimer: I am not Nintendo and do not own Pokemon.)
1. Prologue: Into Chaos

**This Prologue was edited from the original version because I felt it didn't quite fit with the rest. If I wrote something that conflicts with another chapter, please notify me.**

**-****_TheKingCati_**

**Giratina**

I floated around my world, looking at the endless purple abyss below me. _How long have I been stuck here exactly? _I thought. _Months? Years? I will make Arceus, Palkia, and Dialga pay for trapping me here! I must have thought about this hundreds of times! _Just then, I heard something enter the portal connecting the Distortion and normal world. I rushed over to see who entered, and it was actually a group of Pokemon, at least one hundred of them. "Why have you come here?" I asked.

"We want your help." One Bisharp said from the front of the group. I laughed at the idea.

"What could you possibly want me to help with?"

"We are sick and tired of the Pokemon trainers capturing us against our will!" A Venusaur commented from the middle of the group. "They take away our friends, and make them think that they are their friends! I tried to ask one of my old friends, who was captured by a trainer, a question, and he didn't even remember me!"

"All of you want to do this?" I asked.

"Yeah, that's why we came!" A Swampert commented from the back.

"They even make Pokemon fight against each other against what would previously be against their will, but they make them believe that it is normal!" A Bellossom complained from the middle.

"And what's in it for me, if I help?"

"We have agreed, if you agree, that you will be the ruler of this land, and we will do anything else you want." The same Bisharp answered

"That does sound nice." I thought about it for a second. "I will accept. However, an extra request I have is to destroy Palkia, Dialga, and Arceus."

"We will do that!"

"Good. Everyone in your group may stay in the Distortion World for now." I floated backward to see what must have been a couple thousand Pokemon walk into my world. I waited until there were no more Pokemon coming through. "Is there a leader in this group?" A Gallade started walking up to the front. He stopped and looked up at me.

"That would be me."

"Good. We move in seven days. Prepare for forces. You are the general of all of them, but you report to me."

"Understood. We do have about triple this force waiting in their homes to attack when the order is given."

"Very good. Make sure no one knows about this. We will take them by surprise." The Gallade nodded.

"Two things to note about this, general. One, as soon as I leave this world, Palkia, Dialga, and Arceus will try and stop me, so I will come out when the time is right. Secondly, there is no way to get the trainer's Pokemon back, so they will either have to be captured or executed. Understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"What is your name, Gallade?"

"Jeffrey Swordhand."

"Then, Jeffrey, prepare the troops." The Gallade walked away, and started talking to a group of Pokemon. _This is my chance, _I thought. _I will finally have my revenge!_

**Seven days later, July 23**

**Jeffrey**

I walked out of the portal with my personal legion, with others behind me. The messengers flew off to start the attack on their respective regions. My army of one thousand started marching towards the closest city, and on the way we saw some bug catchers. They stared, confused at the mass of Pokemon heading toward them. "Janet, what is happening here?" One of them asked the other.

"I don't know."

"We need to get out of our way!" I shouted at them.

"That Gallade is making some very angry noises!" One of the said, both of them throwing out their Pokemon. I moved my hand forward, and the front ten Pokemon fired at the Butterfree and Larvesta, obliterating them. The trainers ran away, and we kept marching. We made it to the town, and the people there stared at our group. I signaled for the fire types to use their moves, and then Flamethrowers and Fire Blasts sent the buildings ablaze and the people retreating, with some of my army even firing after them. After the city was nothing but rubble, we moved on to the next location.

**Giratina**

I went through the portal to the real world, and finally got to see the sun for the first time. I almost forgot the situation for a second. "GIRATINA?! Why are you in the real world?" Arceus bellowed from behind me. I held the Griseous Orb, allowing me to float over to the god, with Palkia, and Dialga on his flanks.

"I have come to be free."

"You know you can't beat me. I could just wish you out of existence!"

"You're too confident in yourself to do that!" I readied for a fight. The other three did the same. Arceus opened up using Hyper Beam, which I dodged, and started floating towards the nearest mountain. I dodged a Flash Cannon by Dialga, and a Hydro Pump by Palkia. I stopped at a dead end in the mountain, and watched as the three Pokemon approached me, seemingly having me trapped.

"Giratina, you fool. You trapped yourself!" Arceus laughed.

"Not quite, my old friend." The three hundred Pokemon appeared on the ledges on each side of the valley. "Fire!" The valley was suddenly a storm of Hyper Beams, Fire Blasts, and other various moves. I took advantage of the fact that Arceus was distracted, and used some of the psychic power that I had gained. The god landed on the ground, shaking its head as Dialga and Palkia fell from the amount of incoming fire.

"You can't do this!" Arceus yelled. "You're not a psychic type!"

"You underestimate me. Now KNEEL!" The god of everything kneeled in front of me, now without its free will. "Go defeat all of the powerful trainers in the world, and leave no one left to oppose me!" Arceus flew off, and I imagined what I would do with my new world.

**& #(!)_&# **

Giratina had taken over the world in about a month. All of the people or Pokemon that could oppose him were dead, or nowhere to be found. Giratina allowed the Pokemon left to rule themselves, since all he really ever wanted was revenge. The Pokemon originally hated everything the humans made, but grew to use some of their ideas, like towns, houses, and even their language, after they evolved to be able to speak it. Jeffrey Swordhand was worshipped as a hero in Gallade societies for helping defeat the tyrant Pokemon trainers. However, the new world was not perfectly secure, as 184 years later, threats started to reemerge….


	2. Chapter 1: Too Weak (Gality Swordhand)

I woke up at 6:30 a.m. to hear my alarm blaring at max volume. I attempt to hit the dismiss button on it, but it refused to turn off, so I just unplugged it. I got up and put on my white and green shirt, and my green pants with the triple red stripes, the hallmark of the Swordhands. I walked out of my room to eat my breakfast when I see my father walks in the door with a large smile on his face. "What makes you so happy, father?" I asked.

"It's the day, Gal! It's time to prove that you are strong enough for this community!" Father yelled excitedly.

I was slightly concerned, but I didn't show that. "What does that entail, Father?"

"That means that you must battle me on our sacred battle grounds, and you must defeat me!"

I was extremely concerned after that. _How can I defeat my father with Teleport, Focus Blast, Psycho Cut, and Brick Break, _I thought. "When are we going?"

"Well, are you ready?"

"Let me eat my breakfast, and I will meet you there!"

"Okay Gal, see you there!". Father walked out of the door and I fell back in my seat in fear. _Father is way better than me. Also, what will he think of me if I lose?, _I thought. I finished my breakfast and walked outside towards the family fighting place. As I was walking, I saw two younger Gallade fighting with their forearms, not advancing very far on the other. Their mother, a Gardevior, walked up to them and stopped them from fighting with Telekinesis. About two blocks down from the fighting Gallades, there was an older Gallade that was putting shingles on a house. After another six blocks, I arrived at the Swordhand family battle arena, which was under four large willow trees about 1000 feet in the woods. Father was standing there, already firing Psycho Cuts towards the sky. "Shall we begin?" Father said as he went into his battle position.

"As ready as I'll ever be!" I replied.

"Then En Garde, my son!" Father shouted as he charged his Psycho Cut and fired at me, which I dodged my rolling to the right. I used Teleport and charged Psycho Cut, grasing my father in the back. "I forgot you still had that move!" Father muttered as he charged a Focus Blast. I ran to the right to dodge the attack, but Father led the attack correctly and hit me in the side, causing me to fly backwards.I got up and used Teleport, and then charged Focus Blast and fired. Father backflipped over it towards me and used Close Combat, which I countered with Brick Break. We were both sent flying backwards; however, Father got up first and fired off a Psycho Cut, knocking me back even farther. I used Teleport to get myself up quicker and fire off a Focus Blast, but Father dodged it easily. Father jumped in the air and used Aerial Ace, which homed in on me, even after I used Teleport, knocking me down to the ground once more. I got up and attempted to charge a Focus Blast, but I shot it up into the sky, and fell down to the ground, exhausted. Father walked up to me and looked down. "Son, I am very disappointed in you. Your most _useful _move was Teleport, which isn't even an attacking move!"

"I'm sorry Father, you were just too experienced and strong, with a move that is very effective against me," I replied, defeated. Father charged up a Psycho Cut and blasted me with it, knocking me back farther and temporality blinding me. I saw Father walking towards me, his hands pink with Psycho Cut charge. "Father… why?" I questioned in severe pain.

"You have lost the bout!" Father bellowed in a voice I have never heard from him before. "You aren't fit for this community! You have disappointed your sister, mother, and me! You must be finished! I am sorry Gality, and I wish it didn't have to be this way!". Father started walking back towards the city as he let the Psycho Cut go. As it flew towards me, the world around me changed to a forest with a river, and then everything turned black.


	3. Chapter 2: Opposite (Jubilee Psyspeed)

I woke up in the morning at 9:00 a.m. to hear my alarm beeping extremely quietly. I attempted to hit the snooze button, but it was broken after slamming it over and over every day. I got up and used Moonblast and destroyed the alarm clock, as long with the wall behind it. The younger Gardevior turned and ran towards her mother. I walked out of my door and saw my mother, frowning at me. "Jubie, why did you scare the young Gardevior outside?" Mother asked.

"Why do you care?" I replied snarkily.

"Uhh, because they are a member of your community!"

"So? They all hate me, so what does it matter?!"

"Stop! Let's get back on track. The mayor wants you in his office in five minutes!"

"For what?"

"I really don't know. She just said that it was important!"

"Ugh!" I groaned and flipped over our dinner table as I stormed out of the door. The other Gardevior outside moved out of the way as I stormed off. I walked about three blocks in the direction of the City Hall when a vendor stopped me.

"Hello! Do you want to bu…". I used Psychic to destroy her cart and throw him back into the wall, stunning her. I continued to walk towards the City Hall as Gardevior came to help the vendor up. After walking another ten blocks, I reached the City Hall. The two guards in front of the doors moved out of the way as I advanced through the doors. I went up the stairs and walked into the Mayor's office.

"I see that you still don't knock, Jubilee," the Mayor said as he turned around in his swivel chair. "Would you like to take a seat?". I used Psychic to throw the seat into the wall, shattering it. "Fine. You can stand then!" the Mayor said, clearly annoyed at the destruction of his furniture. "Do you know why you are here?"

"No, Mayor, I don't!" I replied mockingly.

"Jeez! You take offense to everything! You are here because of everything that you have done!"

"And what would that include?"

"Smashing vendors into walls, terrorizing children, yelling at your own parents, and destruction of property."

"What is the punishment, our almighty, omnipotent Mayor?"

"You shall be exiled from this land, and executed if you return!"

"What did you just say?!". I let the words sink in for a minute, then I used Telekinesis to lift the Mayor into the air. "Are you expelling TRUE power?"

"You are not the most powerful! Your hatred and anger make you weak beyond belief!"

"So, mighty Mayor, can you survive a Guillotine?"

"WHAT?! Gardevior can't learn Guillotine!"

"Well, maybe you don't have as much power as I thought you had!". The Mayor's guards reached the door just in time to watch their Mayor be finished by a Guillotine.

"Traitor! Kill her!" The guard captain shouted just before he was hit with a Moonblast. I knocked out two more guards with Moonblast as they fired back with a Dazzling Gleam, which I flipped over. I slid between the remaining two guards and hit one with Moonblast, but the other knocked me into a wall with Psychic. I got up and hit him with a Moonblast as I ran down the stairs and out of the City Hall, using Moonblast on nine more guards trying to stop me from escaping, but there was no resistance. I ran through the entrance doors of the City Hall and towards the woods. I stopped behind a house and rested as the alarm sounded at the City Hall. _I could stay here and attempt to defeat all of the guards, but that is way too many Gardevior for me to handle. I think the woods would be a better option, _I thought. I ran off at full speed towards the woods, reaching the city limits in ten minutes and kept running. I ran for another 50 minutes until I thought I was far enough and rested against a tree. Huffing and puffing, I started to look at my surroundings. After walking around for about five minutes, I saw a Gallade face down in the snow. I was prepared to use Psychic in case that the Gallade moved, but he stayed face down in the snow. I relaxed just as a Shadow Ball in me in the back, sending me flying against a tree. I sent a Psychic in the direction of the blast, but nothing happened. I did a frontflip over a second Shadow Ball, but then I was flung into a snowbank as I was hit with a Shadow Claw. I got up and used a full power Psychic on my attacker, but it didn't affect the purple, two eyed creature with a gem. I tried the exact same thing, but to no avail. As the creature approached me, I saw another creature dragging away the Gallage as all went black with a Shadow Claw. That attack sent me back once again into a tree.

"Who are you!?" I screamed into the forest. There was no answer as I got up and started running. _I have never seen a Pokemon that can resist my Psychic! It seemed like it wasn't even phased, _I thought. I ran between two trees and suddenly fell over into a pit, and was immedately hit with a Shadow Ball. I layed down, defeated as a group of the weird creatures walked towards me.

"You, poor, poor Gardevior, far away from your tribe!" one of them said as everything went black.


	4. Chapter 3: Sableye Pirates

Jubilee

I woke up on a metal bed inside of a jail cell made of black colored bricks. I got up and looked outside of the bars to see the same purple creature patrolling the outside on my cell, as long with about 20 other cells. I attempted, once again, to use Psychic on it, but he was unaffected and I thought I could even hear the thing snickers it kept walking. I sat down, frustrated, and stayed there for about 30 minutes until I heard a moan from the other bed. I looked over to see the Gallade that was face down the snow. When he rolled over, I saw that there was a large slash in his shirt, as well as a pinkish glowing area under the fissure. He stood up and looked over at me, confused. "Who are you?"

"Does it matter? We are currently in a jail cell!" The Gallade looked around at the walls and the bars.

"If this is what I think it is.." He looked up at the corner of the roman concentrated, then warped to the top corner of the room and hit the floor, grimacing in pain as he hit the floor. "It is. This stuff is Darkstone, which doesn't allow psychic types to break it or use Teleport through it."

"Wait, you still have and use Teleport?!" I laughed at the Gallade that was actually telling me useful information.

"I use it for movement purposes." He explained. "Now, back on topic. Since you are a Gardevior, I am assuming that the guard is a dark type?"

"Wha.. What is a dark type?" I stuttered back in confusion.

"A dark type is a Pokemon that is immune to psychic type moves. Do you have any fairy moves?"

"No. I used all of my energy up for it."

"What are the guards?"

"They are purplish with a gem."

"Sableye, huh? Not very helpful. They are ghost and dark type, so they are immune to normal, fighting, and psychic. What other moves do you know?"

"I know Telekinesis and Guillotine."

"So, we have no moves that can attack them, since I only have Teleport, Focus Blast, Psycho Cut, and Brick Break."

"You have Focus Blast too! You are sort of a joke Gallade!"

"Shh! Give me a second!" The Gallade walked up to the Darkstone bars. "Hey Sableye, how is it going?!" The Sableye immediately ran over to our jail cell and charged up a Shadow Ball. "Catch!" The Gallade threw a ring at the target, which the Sableye looked at in confusion as he was hit with a Focus Blast, knocking him out. The key that the guard was holding slid under the door, which the Gallade grabbed and opened the cell.

"I thought you said that ghost types couldn't be hit by fighting moves!" I complained. The Gallade picked up the item that he had thrown at the Sableye.

"This is called a ring target. It gets rid of all of the immunities that a Pokemon has. However, I can't just throw this at every Sableye here. Do you have any Technical Machines?"

"What even is that?!"

"I am going to say that's a no." The Gallade pulled out a green disc and started hitting buttons, which opened up the machine and showed a screen. He looked at the video playing on it for about a minute before he closed it up. "Let's see if that works!" He moved his arms into a cross formation, and then he used X-Scissor onto an adjacent wall, destroying it. I instinctively backed up, since I knew that an X-Scissor could knock me out. "I'm assuming from your reaction that you know what X-Scissor would do if you were hit by it?"

"Yeah, they told me at the school back at the community that it is a huge counter to us."The Gallade signaled to move forward through the only visible hallway.

Gality

The Gardevior followed me through the hallways, sneaking past some Sableye until we reached one that was standing in a watchtower. Why is there a watchtower underground? I thought. I snuck up to the top of the watchtower and used X-Scissor on the unsuspecting Sableye, knocking him out. I looked past the Sableye to see a Leppa Berry. "Eat this!" I told the Gardevior.

"And why would I do that?" She replied, clearly disgusted at the idea of eating a random berry.

"Do you want to actually be able to attack the Sableye?" I questioned.

"Well, yes, that you be nice."

"This berry allows you to give power back to your moves. Just concentrate on which move you would want to restore." The Gardevior took the berry and closed her eyes, then she ate the berry.

"I feel… refreshed!" The Gardevior exclaimed. She charged a Moonblast, prepared to kill the Sableye. I moved her arm out of the way, causing the blast to hit a control panel, starting an alarm system. "Why did you stop me?" The Gardevior screamed over the blaring siren.

"We don't kill! That makes us no better than them! Now let's get moving!" I screamed as I pointed towards the closing Darkstone gate as Sableye poured into the room. I ran down the tower with the Gardevior behind me. Once we got out of the tower, I was immediately forced to dodge Shadow Balls heading straight towards us. We rushed towards the gate, and when we got there, I used X-Scissor to break open the gate just as a Shadow Ball hit me across the chest, sending me back into a wall. The Gardevior hid behind the wall where I had landed.

"Are you alright?" She asked me.

"It was just a graze, i'll live!" I reassured as I held by chest. We hid behind the barrier until the constant onslaught suddenly stopped. I looked over the barrier to see a five foot Sableye holding a massive red gem."This day just keeps getting better!" I muttered.

"Come out, you cowards!" The Mega Sableye boomed.

"No one talks to me like that!" The Gardevior said as she started to walk out from behind the wall. I pulled her back from behind the wall. "What are you doing?!" She screamed at me.

"We need a plan, and that plan is this!" I explained. "You need to attack when the gem is not blocking your Moonblast. I will try to clear the gem away from your firing arc. Understand?" The Gardevior nodded, and she followed behind me as I approached the Mega Sableye.

"So my minions couldn't deal with two pokemon they were almost completely immune to?! Wow, you must always do everything yourself, don't you?" The Mega Sableye, presumably the leader of the group. "I bet you guys didn't even plunder their items, which is the point of a pirates existence!"

"Attack!" I said to the Gardevior as I ran in, immediately using X-Scissor on the gem, which cracked it a little, but did nothing else. I attempted to use X-Scissor on the hands of the Mega Sableye, but they just batted me across the room and into the wall. As I got up, the Mega Sableye shot two Shadow Balls at the Gardevoir, but she dodged both of them. I used this opportunity to jump between the Mega Sableye and the gem, kicking it out of its hands. "Fire now!" I screamed as the Mega Sableye started to constrict me, then it fell to the ground.

"Kill them! They killed the leader!" one of the Sableye shouted as the all opened fire on us. I motioned for her to follow me. She did so, and we both dodged Shadow Balls until we reached the wall.

"Cover me!" I shouted to the Gardevior. She hid behind the watchtower and fired Moonblasts at the approaching Sableye, knocking whoever it hit out. I repeatedly used X-Scissor on the Darkstone wall until I could see standard dirt. "Take my hand!" I screamed as I ran up to the Gardevior.

"Why?" she asked.

"Does it matter?" I replied. She took my hand. I concentrated, and then, suddenly, we were both outside in the snowy forest.


	5. Chapter 4: Story by the Campfire

**Gality**

I looked around to see where the Teleport had put me. _It's nighttime, _I thought. _It's also getting cold. I need to find a clearing to make a fire. _I walked in one direction, looking for a clearing. I turned around to see if the Gardevior was following me, and she was. It took about twenty minutes, but I found a clearing next to a cliff, with pine trees surrounding it. "Please stand over there." The Gardevior walked over to the cliff wall and leaned against it. I charged Psycho Cut and fired it at a tree, knocking the tree down. I charged Psycho Cut again and split the section without sticks. I drug those sections about seven feet apart, then I broke sticks off the remaining part of the tree and stacked them in a teepee shape. I went over to the cliff wall and broke off two stones, then walked back to the stick teepee and started smashing them against each other. A spark came off the rocks and lit the sticks on fire. "Take a seat, if you would like!" The Gardevior went to the opposite side of the campfire and sat on the log. I sat on the opposing log.

"So, how did you end up face down in the snow, with a pink slash across your chest?" The Gardevior asked.

"Now that you mention it, I should probably bandage that up." I walked over to some taller grass to start making some sort of awful bandage. "Also, would it be time to ask what your name would be?"

"My name is Jubilee, and what would be yours, Gallade?"

"My name is Gality. Nice to meet you, Jubilee." Jubilee started to laugh. "What is so funny?"

"Your parents actually name a Gallade Gality? That has to be one of the least creative names ever!"

"Well, let's get back on your original question, Jubilee. It was a normal day. I woke up at 6:30 in the morning, and went to eat breakfast. That was when my father came walking in the door. He said that to be a part of the community, I must defeat him on the Swordhand sacred ground. I met him out there after I finished my breakfast, and we fought. He defeated me, and had me lying on the ground. I told him why I had lost the bout, but then he hit me with a Psycho Cut, knocking me back and slightly blinding me. He yelled at me and said that I was disappointed with my family and my community, then he fired a Psycho Cut to finish me. I used the last bit of my energy to use Teleport and get me away from there, then I woke up in that prison cell." Jubilee had a concerned look on her face.

"So… your own father… tried to kill you?"

"Yes. And from what I have heard, any Gallade that runs from the Community of the Gallades are renegades and will be hunted."

"Well, that isn't too much different from my situation."

"So, what is your situation then?"

"Well, I was called up to the Mayor's office for… disruption of the peace. They exiled me, but I ran away before they could capture me."

"Well, I see that we are both renegades. No offense, out of curiosity, why did you follow me?"

"You seemed like you knew what you were doing. On that point, how did you gain all that knowledge in a war society?"

"The answer is simple, but life wasn't. I didn't practice fighting. I used Teleport to escape classes and find books I could read. I wanted to know the most I could, in the situation I ended up with nothing."

**Jubilee**

_This Gallade is… like me! _I thought. "So, why did you stop me from killing the Sableye?" Gality sighed.

"I don't kill for two reasons. One, it makes me just as evil as my adversary. Secondly, we are all Pokemon. Why should we fight?" Gality finished patching himself up with the grass bandage.

"Well, I only have a couple questions left for you. First, how many Pokemon types are there?"

"There are actually 18 types of Pokemon." I recoiled slightly in surprise. _Our village only told us about seven types! Were they hiding this information from us, or did they now know? _I thought. "However, I could talk about each of their strengths and weaknesses for hours. I will just talk about what you need to know. Obviously you need to watch out for the dark type, which your psychic moves can't hit, but you also need to watch out for poison, ghost, and steel types, whose moves would injure you greatly."

"Good to note. Now to my second question: Why did you save me when you just escape yourself? It wasn't like I was the nicest person!" Gality looked at me, almost confused.

"I did it because it was right. What did you think I was going to abandon you there just because you insulted my moves?"

"Yes, actually."

"Well, that isn't what I would do." Gality got up and put more wood on the fire. "Are you cold?"

"Yes, a little. Why?" Gality took out two small, electronic boxes and clicked the button on top of them. A blanket popped out of both of them, and he gave one to me. "Wow, thanks. Did you invent those things?"

"After about two years and a large amount of frustration, yes, yes I did!" Gality celebrated as he sat down on his log. "But before we go to sleep for the night, how did you learn Guillotine?" I hesitated for a moment.

"I found a Technical Machine, as you called it, and saw how to perform it," Gality turned his head, thinking. _He knows that I am contradictory_, _and also lying. Why am I lying to someone that saved my life? _I thought. There was silence for about five minutes. "So, what is the plan for the morning?" Gality thought for a moment.

"I don't really know specifically, but we need to get away from the area of our old homes. Probably somewhere in another region would be best." Gality spread his blanket out about three feet from the fire. "I am going to go to sleep. See you in the morning." I attempted to sleep for about 30 minutes until I heard Gality breathing very softly to my left. _He is the only person I have ever met that could put up with me. I hope the rest of the world is like him, _I thought. That thought of hope helped me lay down and go to sleep.


	6. Chapter 5: Stevenston

**Gality**

I woke up just when the sun was rising and attempted to turn off my alarm clock, which obviously was no where near me. _Oh yeah, I don't live there anymore, _I thought. I got up from the ground and looked over at Jubilee, who was still sleeping. I quietly pushed the log that I was sitting on the night before over to the cliff wall, and I did the same with the ashes of the fire. Then I started folding the blanket back into the container, and that is just about the time that Jubilee woke up. She looked over at me putting the folded blanket back into the original container. She got up, grabbed the blanket, and then she gave it to me. "I see you don't wake up very early." I stated as I started folding the other blanket.

"Well, I wasn't really knows for waking up early." Jubilee said as she started walking around. I finished folding up the blanket, then I rolled the second log over to the first log. "So, did you formulate a plan?"

"Yes, I have. If I remember correctly, I think I targeted my Teleport from the battlefield somewhere to the south, so Stevenston should be southeast from here, most likely two hours from our current location."

"So, should we get walking?"

"Yeah, probably." I started walking toward where I think the town is, and Jubilee followed me. We walked for about five minutes until Jubilee caught up to me and walked beside me.

"I know there is probably a reason, but why can't we can't just use Teleport to get there?"

"Two reasons. One, Teleport has limited uses, and if I get in a fight, it is my most viable option. Second, I can really only Teleport about 1000 feet, and it takes a lot out of me."

"Alright!"

—

After about three hours, we arrived at a stone road. "Well, it looks like we found the town, and my estimate of time was slightly off." We walked on the stone road for about three minutes until we walked into the city limits of Stevenston.

"So, what are we going to do here?" Jubilee asked while she was looking around.

"We are going to eat some food, then go to the port city of Easton Bay, where there is a ship to the Hoenn region. That is our quickest and best chance."

"So, do you know where we are going?"

"If I remember correctly, there should be a restaurant about three blocks forward and then on the right side of the road." I started walking in that direction, and Jubilee walked beside me.

"How much time did you spend reading in that library that you were talking about?"

"Too much." We walked in silence until we reached the restaurant and sat down at a table. A waitress gave us some menus and we looked over them, then the waitress returned.

"What would you folks like?"

"I would like a Tamato Berry soup, please!" I answered as I gave her the menu.

"I would like a Mixed Berry Bowl." Jubilee also gave the waitress the menu as she walked away to submit our orders.

**Jubilee**

I was sitting across from Gality at the restaurant without anything to do or really talk about, so I started assessing the Gallade. From the little that I knew about Gallades, he seemed slightly taller than an average Gallade, since he seemed to be about five feet six inches tall. His arms seemed slightly smaller than average, even with his extra height. I also saw that his shirt was sown up. "Gality, when did you fix your shirt?"

"Oh, I fixed it on the walk here. Did you not see that?"

"I guess I was too focused on the scenery. I haven't really been outside of our area before." There was a temporary silence.

"Did you know that Gardevoir and Gallade used to have hornish looking things that grew in their chests?" I was slightly startled.

"What? Why?"

"It seems that it was just natural, but some of our ancestors apparently removed it because it prohibited mobility in combat and made that part an easy target to hit." Just then, the waitress came over to our table with our food.

"Here is a Tamato Berry soup and a Pinap Berry Steak." I looked the waitress in the eyes.

"I ordered a Mixed Berry Bowl." The waitress looked up at the sky for a second.

"Shoot! I must have mixed up the orders. I'll go and fix that!" The waitress started to walk away with the dish when I got an idea. I shot a Moonblast, which tagged the waitress in the foot, knocking her over. I laughed as the entire restaurant looked at me, along with Gality.

"WHY DID YOU DO THAT?" One of the customers yelled.

"Because I felt like it!" I replied. After saying that, I spun to the left to dodge an incoming Pokemon. Then I flipped into the middle of the restaurant as many of the Pokemon in there charged their moves, causing them to hit each other. The Pokemon turned on each other and started fighting each other as I freely blasted Moonblasts into the pile of Pokemon fighting each other.

**Gality**

_I can't believe that Jubilee started a restaurant fight! _I thought. _At least I got to eat half of my food until a Pokemon looked at me. _A Wartortle stared my down as I was just sitting there. "Fight me, Gallade!" The Wartortle yelled at me. I grabbed his hand and used Teleport, dropping the Wartortle into a pool, and then Teleported back. I ran into the pile of Pokemon and grabbed Jubilee's hand, then Teleported behind the restaurant. Jubilee was flailing wildly.

"Let go of me you…" She looked up at my discontent face. "Oops…?"

"You just started a fi… Hide!" I pushed her behind a couple of boxes.

"Why did you do.." She started to scream.

"Shhh!" I replied as three of the Gallade Royal Guard came towards me.

"Oh hello, Gality, how has running gone?" The one on the left smirked.

"Hello, Thomas, Stephen, and Antonio. I see you have been sent to kill me. And with Mean Look as well!" I replied to my old friends.

"I can't believe I used to call you my friend Gality! You betrayed the values of the community!" Antonio yelled.

"So your telling me I should die?"

"No. I'm telling you that you should have fought your father before Teleporting away!" Thomas complained. I shook my head at my former friends.

"You poor fools. I would tell you the truth, but you would never believe a renegade. Unfortunately, you get to be the testers of my new technology!" Stephen recoiled in fear.

"You are opposed to fighting, Gality! You can't use that!"

"Well, I can't escape, and I have reasons for fighting you." I clicked the button on top of the cube, and the device enveloped both of my hands in pink metal. "I'm sorry my old friends." I fired a Psycho Cut at Thomas, sending him flying against a wall. Stephen and Antonio backed up about ten steps.

"You.. You finished the Fairy Converter?" Stephen quivered.

"Yes. And it's time for you to take a short rest!" I shot Psycho Cut from both of my arms, knocking both of them against the wall. Now with Mean Look gone, I used Teleport to grab Jubilee and Teleport away from Stevenston.


	7. Chapter 6: Moral Code

**Jubilee**

I looked around at my new location, which was somewhere else in the snowy forest. I saw Gality looking around at the trees and the sun, then he started walking in a direction. I followed him, but said nothing as he was clearly angry at me for starting the scuffle at the restaurant. I walked behind him for three hours and he said nothing. About two hours later, the sun set and he walked around to find another clearing. He did the same thing he did before, like cutting down the tree, splitting it, and taking sticks off the one. This time, however, he rubbed two sticks together to create fire. He motioned for me to sit, which I did, since my feet were tired, and he sat opposite of me. "Why did you do it!?" I turned around in a few directions to see who had said that, but only Gality has around. _I can't believe the most threatening thing I have ever heard came from the most soft man I have ever met, _I thought.

"Uhh.. becau…" I stuttered. Gality interrupted me.

"Answer the question!" I recoiled a little with that statement.

"The..uhh...waitress brought me the wrong meal?"

"You seem unsure about a striking action. Why?" Gality was truly starting to scare me at this point.

"Uhh…. I don't know?"

"Well, let me tell you why you don't know by telling you a story. When I was a young Gallade, just evolved, I was very overconfident. I walked into the Fighting School thinking that I could take on the world and win. Can you guess what happened? I lost every MATCH! In one of the matches, however, one thing happened that would change me. I lost a match to a slightly shorter Gallade, who hit me with a Psycho Cut after I was already down on the floor of the arena. The teacher had to carry me home, which absolutely disappointed my father. I sat in bed two days, thinking about how I could get my revenge. I even went to the library to study on how to make a pitfall. I set it up the day before I came back to school. The next day, I met the kid an hour before school and challenged him to a fight at my family arena. He accepted and we walked to the arena, apparently not seeing that I flipped over where the pitfall was. He fell in, and I filled in the hole after him. They never did find out what happened to that Gallade." I was staring at him, my mouth agape.

"You..you murdered someone for… no reason?"

"Well, no, I had a reason, well at least back then. However, after I got home from school that day, I went to my bed and sat there. I eventually laid down and stayed there, without sleep for two days. The longer I layed there, the more I thought about how I had murdered someone." Gality picked up the left side of his shirt, revealing a light green slash on the side of his body. "And I have to live with it every day." I continued just staring, not knowing what to do. "That is why I don't kill. Now, why did you really use Moonblast on that waitress?" I sat and thought in silence for a minute or so.

"Because I thought it was right."

"Yes, that is correct. Your fight cost the lives of a Poilwrath, Magikarp, and Lopunny. It caused me to have to face my old friends again, something I never wanted to do."

"Well, I'm sorry…" My speech trailed off. Gality looked up at the sky for a moment.

"Well, let's change the subject. Now that you are a reconizible renegade in most cities because of the security cameras in the restaurant, we need to take a different route than originally planned."

"Wait, how did you know they had security cameras?" I asked, then immediately knew the answer to my own question. "You have a gadget that can track that, don't you?" Gality nodded. "Also, on that note, how did you create that, and what is it?" I pointed to the pink metal on his forearms.

"Oh yeah, I should probably take these off." Gality clicked a button on the back of the pink metal gadget, and the device retracted back into a square, which Gality put back in his pocket. "This thing is made of Magic Essence, which turns psychic attacks that travel through it into a fairy attack. The Essence will shatter if it is hit by a poison or fire move, because both will turn it into dust. This design took me about three months to perfect. Currently, it only works for physical psychic moves, but I think that I could get it to work with special psychic moves."

"Does anything like that exist anywhere else?"

"I don't believe that the technology exists elsewhere." Gality sat on the ground and leaned on the log. "On a positive note, I did find a Technical Machine for Protect leaning against one of the boxes when we were escaping." Gality opened up the Technical Machine and looked at the screen, then he closed his eyes for a minute. He put the Technical Machine down and laid down on the ground.

**?**

I saw the Gallade giving the Gardevoir a blanket from a small machine, then do the same for himself. I walked back to the cliffside and imputed the code into the keypad, opening up the door. I walked through the door as it closed behind me. "So, how were the two outside?"

"The Gardevoir seems a tad iffy, since she did start that fight today. However, the Gallade seems very nice. He told the Gardevoir a story of him senselessly killing another Gallade, but that event is the reason he doesn't kill. He also created an invention that turned his Psycho Cut, I am going to assume, into a fairy move."

"Wow, that IS promising! Do you we can recruit them?"

"Well, I think that we could easily recruit the Gallade. He seems to be very stuck to his morals. The only hope I really see to recruit the Gardevoir is to prey on the fact that she is a renegade."

"Well, if that is the case, why try to recruit the Gardevoir?"

"From what I saw on the news, she is incredibly powerful, and is fearless."

"That could be a weakness and a strength."

"Well, you do know how useful that Gallade's inventions would be? Our Pokemon would hit extremely hard!"

"Yes, I do understand that. I will relay this to our esteemed leader. Hopefully these two will be able to help The Remnant, and maybe, just maybe, we can defeat the Renegade!"


	8. Chapter 7: The Remnant

**Gality**

I woke up once again, before Jubilee. Luckily for her, I was less mad at her after some sleep. I started to pile the logs back by a tree, which is when I heard some snow crunching behind me. I expected to see Jubilee, but instead I saw a creature with long blonde hair and black garments walk towards me. "Who are you, and why are you in the middle of the woods?"

"I could ask you the same thing, but I know why you are here." That voice sounded familar, almost like..

"Cynthia, champion of Sinnoh?"

"Yes, Gality, that's me, though I didn't expect you to know my name. Where did you learn that?"

"I watched a few battles from the old trainers. They weren't exactly public." Just then, Jubilee started to get up. She sat up and looked over at me, somewhat groggy.

"So, Gality, where…!" Jubilee snapped to attention and hopped up onto her feet. "Human!" She fired a Moonblast, which I dived forward and used Protect to block it.

**Cynthia**

He was so far already far more advanced than I expected. "Jubilee, she didn't even do anything! Why are you opening fire?" Gality explained, trying to talk sense into Jubilee.

"I've heard stories about humans! They're dangerous, Gality!"

"And where did you hear those stories from? Your town? Because my town wasn't the most reliable, I don't know how correct yours was!" Jubilee put her hands out of attack position.

"I guess you may be correct. Fine! But if that human makes one aggressive move..!"

"I will not attack you, Mrs. Jubilee. However, I would like for you two to follow me." I started walking, and Gality eagerly followed, with Jubilee begrudgingly moving soon after. Gality caught up to me pretty quickly.

"Now, I have no problem believing that you could survive the war, but how are you still alive? It has been nearly 200 years since the war!" I shuddered at the thought of that terrible loss of life.

"I may disclose that information at a later date, but for now, I shall let you in our place for the moment. I stopped in front of the rock wall and pushed the rock numbers until the door opened. I walked through, and saw Gality awestruck at the rock contraption. "You know Gality, that contraption is nowhere near the level of your gauntlets that you were wearing last night." We kept walking forward until we got to the battle arena, then I stopped at the south end. "Mrs. Jubilee, will you please move over to the corner?" Jubilee pouted her way into the corner of the room.

"So, Cynthia, what is happening here?"

"Well, you are going to fight my Pokemon, and I will see what you can do!" Gality sighed.

"I'm going to assume that you eavesdropped on my speech last night, and you know that I hate fighting." I nodded. "Am I allowed to use my technology?"

"Yes Gality, I would actually like to see it in action."

"Final question: How many Pokemon am I fighting?"

"Currently, I have you fighting four, but I might have you fight less. You ready?" Gality nodded. "Go Milotic!" I shouted as I threw the Pokeball. The ball bounced back to me, and I caught it and I put it back on my belt. Gality pulled a yellow square out of his pocket, and he clicked the button on top of it. The yellow material shaped around his sword-like forearms and hands, sparking as it crawled. When it had fully coated his arms, he stood in his battle position, at least I presumed. "Mitotic, Ice Beam!" I shouted as the colorful serpent fired the beam, which Gality flipped over. He launched a Psycho Cut, which Milotic dodged by ducking. "Again, Milotic!" Milotic fired another Ice Beam, which Gality used Protect to block, sending the beam into the ceiling. "Milotic, Surf!" I bellowed as a large wave of water rushed towards Gality, which he, once again, Protected through. "Milotic, get closer and use Ice Beam!" Milotic charged forward and shot Ice Beam, but it hit the wall behind where Gality was because he had disappeared. Both Milotic and I looked around to find him, and that is when he appeared in front of me. He used Psycho Cut, which somehow hit Milotic and knocked her out in one hit. Just then, Gality ran over to Milotic and knelt down to make sure she was okay, and she was. "Gality, I appreciate the care for an enemy!"

"I don't make enemies, Cynthia, just find misunderstood people, thought that is not the case here."

**Gality**

"Okay, Cynthia, we have already seen enough!" Another familiar voice boomed over the loudspeaker.

"Steven Stone!" I remarked as the man himself walked out of a room apparently with one-way glass.

"Yes, Gality, and I have some others you may recognize if you know me!" Steven pointed at the door as two older teenagers walked through the door wearing blue and red, respectively.

"Red and Blue!"

"Yes Gality, that it who we are. That was a very inventive tactic. I have never seen a wild Pokemon keep Teleport!" Blue complimented.

"Now, I have seen footage of you old battles, and I don't remember Blue being the one giving out the most compliments."

"Well, Gality, times have changed. I have been here a while!"

"Now, Gality, it is time that I ask you what that is?" Steven questioned, looking at my electric devices.

"Steven, it is a device that is made of Zapily, which is supposedly made of lightning itself. I have routed it so it changes all of by Psycho Cuts to electric type moves."

"So, how many of those do you have?"

"Well, I have ones for electric, obviously, but I also have ones for fairy, bug and dark."

"Well, Gality" Cynthia interjected. "Do you know why we have brought you here?"

"Well, before you answer that question, can you go heal your Milotic? It is really worrying me!" Steven and Red looked at each other with small smiles.

"Yes, Gality, I will go do that." Cynthia walked over to the Milotic and fed it a potion, and it stood right up. Cynthia retracted the Pokemon into her Pokeball. "Well, Gality, do you know the answer to the question?"

"No, I do not."

"Well, let me tell you!" Blue said. "When we were all defeated by Giratina and possessed Arceus, we all retreated into a cave, which is this one right here!' Blue moved his hand out and motioned at the room that we were in, with metal walls and hanging lights. "We stayed here for nearly 200 years, gathering an army to defeat Giratina and save our world. Say, Gality, do you think there is a problem with this world, and if so, what is the problem?"

"I do think there is a problem, and that problem is the standard Pokemon mentality. Most Pokemon nowadays are very aggressive, and will kill each other on a whim. They will destroy themselves!" The four looked at each other with satisfaction.

"Well, Gality, would you like to join our group and our mission?" Steven inquired, learning towards me a little in order to hear my answer.

'Would it stop the fighting?" The four looked at each other. "Would it stop the senseless slaughter?"

"Yes, yes it would Gality!" Cynthia answered.

"Then I will join you."

"Good! Now, I would like for you to follow me, Red and Blue into that room over there. Cynthia, you watch the Gardevoir." Jubilee gave Steven a look of disgust as I followed the three into a room with four metal chairs and a metal table. I sat down on the side with one chair, and they sat down on the opposing side. "Now Gality, why do you have that Gardevoir follow you, though she clearly doesn't follow your beliefs?"

"Steven, I see potential in her. She could be a great Gardevoir, if she shook her current beliefs. She could be a good person. Plus, I believe that everyone can change, with the proper circumstances."

"Is there any other reasons?"

"Well, yes. I woke up in a jail cell with her on the opposite side. We were captured by a group of Sableye pirates, She kept attempting to hit the Sableye with Psychic because she didn't know what a dark type was. She didn't even know what a Sableye was! The Gallade and Gardevoir communities shield a lot from their inhabitants." Steven looked over at Red and Blue, and they both nodded their heads.

"Okay Gality, we will allow that Gardevoir to stay here. However, you have to be damage control."

"Alright. One tip: If you called her by her name, Jubilee, rather than Gardevoir, it would probably help!" Steven nodded.

"Noted, Gality. We will take you to your quarters in a little bit. In the meantime, welcome to The Remnant!"


	9. Chapter 8: The Remnant Base

**Steven**

I walked through the door separating the questioning room and the main battle arena to see Cynthia with her Roserade on the field and the Gardevoir, Jubilee, on the battle arena. "Roserade, Energy Ball!" Cynthia shouted. Jubilee started charging a Moonblast with a very displeased look on her face. Just then, Gality ran past me and jumped into the air, started, spinning, and used Protect just as the two balls of power would possibly hit the opposite sender. Gality landed on his feet just as the Energy Ball and the Moonblast both put sizable dents in the wall.

"What is happening here?!" Gality asked the two, who were still staring at each other.

"I attack her because she kept saying things about me!" Jubilee yelled, pointing at Cynthia.

"Actually, Mrs. Jubilee, I remember you attacking me because I was flipping a Pokeball, and then I threw out a Pokemon in case she attacked!"

"I've heard enough!" Gality yelled. "I will figure it out myself." Gality walked over to where I was standing. "Steven, do you have any security cameras in this room?"

"Yes Gality, there are two in here. We can go up to the room over there.." I started to say.

"Not needed, Steven!' Gality interjected. "This gives me a good opportunity to test the capabilities of one of my never devices!" Gality pulled a more circular device out of his pocket and clicked the button, which also melded around his forearm.

"Gality, does everything you have have the ability to shape to your arm?"

"Yes, yes it does." Gality replied as he clicked some buttons on the device, and then the video on the camera started playing. The two were just standing, with Jubilee still learning against the wall, and Cynthia just standing in the same spot, looking over at the questioning room. After a couple of seconds, Cynthia starts flipping a Pokeball, first front, then back. Jubilee looked up at that device, and then shot a Psychic at it. Cynthia ran to the right of the blast.

"Why did you do that?!"

"You capture Pokemon in those things!" Jubilee screamed.

"Well, are you trying to fight me?"

"If it means the destruction of those things, then yes!" Gality shut off the recording.

"Well, I think that we have our answer!" Gality looked over at Jubilee, with almost disappointment in his look.

"Um, Gality, how did you get into our security system?" I questioned. He looked at me with a slight smirk on his face.

"Steven, I can make a device that changes a psychic blast into an electric type move. A security system is not an issue."

"Well, on that note, I should probably show you and Jubilee to you room. Cynthia, how about you take Red and Blue to the conference room to talk over some plans?" I somewhat pleaded, just trying to get Cynthia and Jubilee far away from each other. Cynthia gave one last look at Jubilee.

"Alright, Steven, I'll go to formulate some plans!" Cynthia replied begrudgingly as she walked towards the conference room with Red and Blue in tow.

**Gality**

I followed Steven through the battle arena and to a door, which he opened and walked through. I looked to my left to see a park, where _different _species of Pokemon were playing together. I walked up to the glass, and Steven stopped, obviously noticing that I took an interest in the park. "This, Gality, is where all the young Pokemon that have joined our cause play. Most of them are children of adults that joined our cause, but some of them were lost children." We kept walking, but I couldn't take my eyes off the park. _It is everything that I want the world to be, _I thought. _Riolu, Happiny, Bulbasaur, and Oddish playing in the same place, and together! _We walked through another door, and we saw a Vileplume fighting a Steelix. We stopped at the glass, and Jubilee seemed somewhat intrigued by the fight. "This is the battle arena. This is where our members train, but we attempt to not even go for knockouts in case of injury." We walked on, and instead of another door, we walked down a flight of stairs. When we got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw a hotel looking place with multiple doors with room numbers, wooden walls, and an elevator at the end of the hallway. There were a few Pokemon in the hallway, and they moved out of the way for Steven, me, Jubilee, though they seemed to tense up as Jubilee went by. We walked into the elevator, and Steven pushed the number 23, and the elevator went down.

"Steven, how many Pokemon are here?" I asked after seeing the thirty numbers on the elevator.

"There is about four hundred Pokemon at this base." I was somewhat shocked.

"They all believe in your philosophies?"

"Yes, because if they didn't, they would have left this place. Gality, half of this place is inhabited by people like you: naturally aggressive Pokemon that learned the error of their ways." The elevator door opened, and we walked to the room marked 2302. "Here is your room keys." Steven handed us the room keys, and Jubilee immediately opened the door, walked inside, and shut the door behind her. "Well, I was going to give both of you the emblem, but Jubilee was a bit impatient to get into her room." Steven handed me two black circles made out of thread, with a white star on the bottom left of them.

"What does this represent?" I asked Steven.

"This represents our society, as we are a community of peace in a world of senseless may sow this on your clothing, as I see you can do since your shirt is sewn up. I will leave you alone for the day, but I need you to report to the conference room tomorrow at nine in the morning to get your assignment. There is a clock in your room on the left side of the doorway. Enjoy the rest of your day!" Steven went to the elevator and clicked a button, then the door closed as it moved. I went to open the door to my room just as the door for room 2301 opened up, revealing a Lucario.

"Hello Gallade! I don't recognize your face. Did you just get here?"

"Yes, Steven just shophered me here. My name is Gality Swordhand. I'm assuming you are my new neighbor?"

"That would be correct!" The Lucario reached his hand out, and I shook his hand. "Luke Stonewall, if you wanted to know!"

"Well, Luke, it is nice to see a calm Lucario. I have only met one before, and he tried to use Aura Sphere on me!"

"Well, that was how the clan was. They were always very war-happy and aggressive, and I realised that it wasn't right. I snuck away from the community about three years ago, and Steven found me helping a vendor clean up his shop after another Lucario used Aura Sphere on it. The rest is history!"

"Well, I am going to check out my new room!"

"Okay, you do that. Remember, if you need help, just find me!" Luke walked back into his room and shut the door. I finally walked into my room and looked around. The room had white carpet, pine looking wooden walls, wooden beds that were white in color, birch nightstands, and blankets with The Remnant's emblem logo on it. I went over to Jubilee's nightstand, which was on the side of the room that the bed she was laying on was in, and set the emblem on it. I went over to the nightstand on the other side and put my devices in the top drawer. Then I walked out of the room to go talk to some of the other Pokemon members of The Remnant.

I walked into my room after going to the entertainment room that apparently exists on the east side of the battle arena. I saw Jubilee still sitting on the same bed, and she watched me sit down on my bed. "So, what took YOU so long?" she asked me.

"Well, I went up to the game room to talk to some Pokemon here. I met a Staraptor, Hitmonchan, Driftblim, and Metang, and they told me how they had joined The Remnant."

"That sounds fun! I wish that I could do that!" Jubilee replied, exasperated.

"Well, why not?" I wondered.

"Have you seen other Pokemon when I pass by? Mothers hide their children behind them, others back up! It is no different to my home!" Jubilee shouted.

"Well, you incident at the restaurant was on live news, and there is a television in the game room, so most of them probably saw it. However, I know that you can something other than a bloodthirsty monster, you just have to show it!" I countered, hoping to at least raise her spirits a little bit.

"Well, that makes one person, because I know what I am." Jubilee stated. I layed down in my bed, and there was silence for a couple of minutes. "Gality, can I use one of your blankets? This one makes me itch!"

"Yes, Jubilee!" I rolled over, opened up the drawer of the nightstand, and pulled out the blanket storage. I pushed the button, and the blanket flew over to Jubilee.

"Thank you, Gality." She spread out the blanket on the bed and layed down. I layed in my bed for a while, thinking about what Jubilee had said. _If Jubilee believes that she is a monster, and she also thinks that is what is right for her, what should I do? _I kept thinking about that same thought, and what I could do to fix it until the darkness of sleep enveloped me.


	10. Chapter 9: Brains Vs Brawn

**Gality**

I woke up listening to the Remnant alarm clock blaring at 8:30 a.m. I got up and started moving around, attempting to wake myself up. Jubilee started to stir just as I went to turn off the alarm from repeating the next day. "Jubilee, Steven told me to get you to the conference room at 9:00 a.m. when I was talking to the Pokemon in the game room, so get up!" Jubilee sat up and stared at me very sleepily.

"Gality, you told me not to attack humans unless provoked. Is waking me up early provoking?"

"No Jubilee, that is not a reason to attack someone. Let's go!" I waited for five minutes for Jubilee to somewhat wake up, then she followed me out the door. I punched in the one on the elevator, then the door closed and it started rising.

"Gality, do you know what this is about?"

"No, they didn't tell me. I guess we will find out soon!" The door opened, and then we walked through the doors and up the stairs. We walked past the arena and the park, and then we arrived at the large room that I fought in yesterday. I went over to where Cynthia, Red, and Blue went yesterday, and I opened the door. I walked in to see Cynthia, Steven, Red, and Blue sitting at a ovalish table, and Jubilee and I sat on the opposite side.

"I see you guys are somewhat good at keeping track of time!" Steven said. "You guys are five minutes early!"

"Well, you mean Gality. He had to wake me up." Jubilee replied.

"Same difference!" Cynthia insisted. "Let us get to our reason of waking you guys up. We have a job for Gality!"

"Well, what do you have for me?" Jubilee asked.

"We will get there in a second." Cynthia reassured. "Let us tell you what our ultimate goal is." Cynthia looked over at Blue.

"Okay, Cynthia, I will explain. We want to defeat Giratina. The Renegade took our homes and destroyed everything we knew. We are hiding in this bunker so that Giratina can't find us and send Arceus after us. We have about two hundred members here that can fight, and a few peaceful societies that we know that would fight for us, but Giratina has the rest. We think that with your technology, we may be able to defeat their armies. We have seen your inventions chance types of moves. Is there anything else you think that you can make?"

"I believe that I can build a couple of other devices." I answered, racking my brain in some of my ideas. "I think that I can make a device that can increase the power of one of your attacks, and possibly a suit that can basically use Protect over and over."

"Good. I am assuming that you don't want you work area to be in your room?"

"No. The neighbors, and especially Jubilee, would hate me with all of the noise!"

"Very well!" Steven interjected. "We will find you a place to work. On the point of work, let's get to the other matter. Gality, we know your potential with your devices, but not without. Jubilee, we have never seen you in a heads-up battle. Do you see where we are going with this, Gality?"

"You want us to fight, don't you?"

"Yes, yes we do. Jubilee, try not to kill anyone!" Steven added as he walked out of the room, with the other three behind him. I walked out through the door, and waited for Jubilee to walk out. She took a while, and she walked beside me.

"Gality, I am scared of fighting you."

"Why, Jubilee?"

"You have known me for about three days, and you know I struggle with non-lethal hits. What happens if I use too much power? You don't deserve to die!" I put my hand on her shoulder.

"It will be fine!" Jubilee nodded as we kept walking. We walked past the park, then into the arena area, where the door was open. We walked through the door to see the four trainers standing there, waiting.

**Blue**

"We will watch from up here!" Steven told the pair. "Don't worry about the glass. It is extremely durable. You two walk down the stairs behind me, and stand at opposite sides of the arena. When I push this button, an alarm will sound, which indicates that you can start fighting. Understand?"

"Understood!" Gality replied. Jubilee just nodded her head. They did as they were told, and lined up at opposite sides of the arena. Steven clicked the button, and the alarm sounded. Jubilee immediately fired a Moonblast, which Gality just flipped over, but didn't return fire. Jubilee fired off a Psychic, but Gality use Protect. Just then, Mr. Stonewall walked up to Steven.

"Hello, Mr. Stone!"

"Hello, Luke. What brings you here?"

"I heard the alarm as I was passing by, and I saw that Gality was fighting. May I watch?"

"Yes, you may." Just then, Gality blocked Jubilee's attack for the ninth time, but had backed up farther towards his wall of the arena.

"Steven, why is Gality cornering himself?" I asked out of confusion.

"Actually, I was going to ask the same thing!" Mr. Stonewall restated.

"You will see!" Steven replied with a smile on his face as Gality blocked the twenty-secondth attack, and Jubilee was basically in the center of the arena at that point. However, just as Jubilee was charging another Moonblast, Gality used Teleport and appeared right behind Jubilee, and then he used Brick Break. It sent Jubilee flying a decent amount, but Jubilee fired the Moonblast as she was flying and hit Gality, sending him flying back four times as far. Jubilee fired a Moonblast at the grounded Gality, but he used Protect. Gality then got up and started running around the arena, firing off Psycho Cuts, but Jubilee was dodging them and returning fire. "Wow, I am impressed!" Steven exclaimed.

"Why, Steven?" I asked.

"Gality had Jubilee in a perfect Teleport trap, but she countered it very well, and Gality actually lost that exchange, since the Moonblast definitely did more." That was the moment that I looked around to see the growing number of spectators watching this fight, which was probably one of the longest lasting I have ever seen. I looked back at the arena to see that Gality was now Teleporting and then firing Psycho Cuts, but Jubilee was still dodging them, however she stopped firing as she realised that she could not hit her Teleporting opponent. Just then, Gality Teleported about five feet to the right of Jubilee and used Psycho Cut, which knocked her back a solid distance, about twice as far as the Brick Break did. Gality continued back to running around and firing for a while, and as the battle neared 10 minutes, the crowd's faces inched closer and closer to the glass, anticipating the victor. Gality then attempted the same move that allowed the Psycho Cut to hit before, but Jubilee anticipated it, kicked him up in the air, and then blasted him with Moonblast, sending him into the east wall. The crowd roared with the interesting move choice.

"Steven, have you ever seen a Gardevoir kick somebody?" Mr. Stonewall questioned.

"No Luke, never." The small microphone that Steven had dropped on Gality shirt before the fight started to register noise.

"I know I can't beat you in a straight up fight, Jubilee." I looked up at Steven to see what he made up of it, and he looked just as confused as me and the audience. "You are a war tactician. You've trained for this. However, I know one thing that you have never seen!" Gality's sword-like Gallade arms started to glow pink with psychic energy. Jubilee attempted to fire a Psychic at Gality, but he just absorbed it.

"Steven, what is happening? What is he doing?" Steven just shook his head and kept watching. Gality's entire body started glowing pink, and he started to hover in the air. He opened his eyes, which were apparently closed, to reveal that they were pink. Gality moved both of his arms in different patterns, and every movement created a Psycho Cut. Jubilee immediately started running backwards and to the sides, attempting to avoid the onslaught. She then, still running, used Telekinesis to deflect some of the Psycho Cuts into the walls. Jubilee avoiding getting hit for about 30 seconds, and that is when Gality started falling to the ground. He landed on the ground, then fell on it, exhausted. Jubilee stopped running and ran over to Gality.

"Gality, are you alright?"

"Yes, just… somewhat… exhausted." Gality said through heavy panting. Jubilee grabbed his hand and helped him walk off the battlefield, and the crowd cheered for the two combatants. Jubilee pretty much dragged Gality up the stairs, and Cynthia offered Gality her chair and some water.

"Gality, what did you just do?" Cynthia inquired.

"Well…" Gality took a drink of water. "You didn't say… that I couldn't use items… so I used this purple crystal.." He took the crystal from his pocket and held it up. It had the shape of two spearheads put next to each other, with a very curly two plastered on the middle of both sides. "To use Psycho Cut twice… it puts me in what I call… True Psychic… however it drains my energy very quickly!"

"You realize that the bricks of this arena keeps the energy of your moves from depleting, right?" Steven quizzed.

"Yes, I realized that." Gality was just starting to catch his breath. "My normal attacks weren't running out of energy. However, I think that the intense energy required to use two moves at once overwhelmed it. I do believe that it did make the effect last longer, because last time I used it, it only lasted for about ten seconds."

"Well, I think that I have a job for you, Jubilee!" Steven declared.

"And what would that be?"

"You can find out tomorrow morning, ten in the morning, in the conference room. Now for you Gality, lets get your technology room set up!" Steven motioned for Gality to follow him as he walked out of the arena spectator's box with many other Pokemon.


	11. Chapter 10: What is a Friend?

Gality

I followed Steven through the crowd and back into the main room. He walked through a door on the south side of the room, and then we walked in. I looked around at the room, including a walnut tree wooden floor and metal walls. "Gality, you may look through the boxes over to the left, and I'll be in the conference room if you need me!" Steven stated as he walked out of the room. I went over and surveyed what I had in each of the boxes. There was a board to hang materials and devices on, a metal desk, and some other items. These all have to be constructed, I thought. This is going to take the rest of my day!

Jubilee

I walked out of the elevator and started to walk into my room when the Lucario that Gality was talking to yesterday. "Do you know where Gality is?"

"He is over in his new workshop, which I think is on the south side of the main room."

"Okay, thanks. My name is Luke Stonewall, by the way!"

"Jubilee Psyspeed."

"Nice to meet you, Jubilee!" Another Lucario walked out of the room. "Oh, this is my wife, Selena!"

"Hello, Jubilee!" Selena said.

"Well, Selena, I'm going to go talk to Gality and see what he is doing!" Luke walked into the elevator and clicked a button, and the door closed.

"I watched that fight you had with Gality! You seem to be great at dodging!" Selena complimented. I smiled and nodded. "Would you like to come in and sit down?" I nodded and followed Selena into her room. I looked around to see two beds and a crib.

"Wait, was that your Riolu in the park yesterday?" I asked with somewhat suprise.

"Yes, yes it was. Helen is being watched in the park so that me and Luke can have some peace." Selena laughed quietly. "Well, back to your fight. How did you dodge all of those Psycho Cuts?"

"I just started running away from all of them. When I realised that I couldn't outrun them all, I started using Telekinesis to push them away."

"Well, that is some quick thinking. Did you know about Gality's ability to do whatever that was?"

"No, I didn't. I am assuming that is why he used it. He called me a master war tactician, so he used something that I wouldn't know how to counter."

"Well, on that note, I want to ask you a question."

"What?"

"Cynthia gave me a mission." Selena stated. "And I want you to be a part of it."

"Who is a part of it?"

"If you join, just us. Most other people don't like my… aggressive fighting style."

"I can relate to that. I have done some… questionable things."

"That is why I want you on this mission."

"I accept." Selena smiles and pumps her fist.

"Perfect! First, I need you to make sure that you keep this quiet. The mission requires us to break in to a Kadabra base. Cynthia thinks that we need some decorations in this base. They have a large stockpile of paint."

"I understand. But how are we going to get the paint back?" Selena put on a nervous face.

"We have to force an Abra to use Teleport over and over."

"It seems like one of my solutions!" Selena smiled.

"Same here! Shall we go?"

"Yes!" I followed Selena down the hallway the opposite of the elevator. She punched a section of the wall and the wall opened up. I followed Selena through the passageway, which led out into the snowy woods, with the sun just starting to set.

"How many people did I talk to after the battle?" I asked out of confusion.

"You were talking for about seven hours." I thought about it for a second, but then that made sense.

"So, where are we going?"

"About twenty minutes south." Selena started walking through the snow, and I followed.

"So, what's the plan?"

"Once we enter the base, we need to find the room that the paint is in. Then we find an Abra and Teleport it all back."

"Seems a bit less elaborate than a Gality plan!" Selena laughed.

"So, when did you meet him?"

"About three days ago. We were both thrown in a jail cell by Sableye, and he helped me escape and guided me through the woods until we got to the base."

"Well, I met Luke about two years ago. I saved him from being eaten by Poochyena. He was never the greatest fighter." I laughed.

"Yeah, I don't think Gality is much of a fighter, either. He refused to seriously hurt the people who captured him. Luckily, it seems that his intelligence is pretty high." Selena nodded.

"Stay quiet from here. We should be approaching the base."

I stopped behind a tree just as Selena put her hand up. I looked forward to see a Kadabra walking into a mountain cave with light pouring out of it. "When I say fire, fire a Psychic!" Selena whispered. We waited behind our trees until the Kadabra reappeared. "Fire!" I used Psychic, which knocked out the Kadabra. Selena motioned for my to move up, and we ran into the mouth of the cave. We ran into a room just as another Kadabra walked by. Selena used Dragon Pulse, which knocked it back into the wall. She walked up to the unconscious Kadabra and pulled out a keycard. I followed her up to the first door, and she swiped the keycard. The door opened, and we crept farther into the base. Selena pushed me behind a wall as two Kadabra started approaching us. Unfortunately, they stood directly next to the wall, and stopped walking.

"So, what did you have for breakfast this morning?" The right Kadabra asked the left one.

"Oran cake. What did you have?"

"Sitrus Berry pancakes." Selena tapped me on the shoulder.

"You take down the one on the left, and I'll take down the one on the right." I nodded. We ran out from behind the wall the face the Kadabra. I just kicked the Kadabra in the face, because I didn't have any physical moves. Selena used Extreme speed to knock out the other. "Good work." Selena whispered as we kept walking down the hallway. We arrived at another door with a keycard scanner. "Now, we need a higher level keycard to get through that door, but all of the people with it are inside of that door. Get ready! I'm going to use Aura Sphere on it!" Selena charged the Aura Sphere, then released it. The door broke down, and the alarm started to sound. "Come on!" We ran through the door and hid behind a double doorway with no doors just as legions of Kadabra walked through the doors. "Open fire!" Selena yelled as we both started using our moves. I began using Moonblast, but all of the energy ran out before we defeated them all, so I switched to Psychic. However, even that wasn't enough, and I only had enough energy left for one Psychic.

"Selena, stop firing!"

"I don't have a choice, Jubilee! I out of energy on all of my special moves!"

"Then move!" I ran at the army of Kadabra, who were still firing Psybeam as me and Selena, and charged my last Psychic, and then fired at the ground. It ripped through the ground, knocking all of the Kadabra, and apparently Abra out. Selena walked up to me.

"How did you know that you happen?"

"I may have read some of Gality's notes."

"Well, let's get moving!" Selena ran off down a corridor, and I followed her. We ran until we both skidded to a stop as we saw a Alakazam staring us down.

"Well, what do we have here? Two Pokemon with no more moves? Easy work for me! I will say that I am impressed that you knocked out all of my minions, but you can have no power when you are dead!" The Alakazam used Telekinesis and captured Selena in a cage, which she kept trying to break with Close Combat, but to no avail. "Now just a Gardevoir with no moves left!" The Alakazam fired a Psychic at me, which I dodged. I continued to run and dodge blasts from the Alakazam. What would Gality do? I thought. I've got it! I used Telekinesis to throw nearby objects at the Alakazam, including chairs and tables. It destroyed most of them, but one of the tables hit the Alakazam, releasing Selena. I then attempted to use Telekinesis to hold the Alakazam in place, which worked, but he was breaking out fast.

"Now, Selena!" I yelled through the concentration. She used Extreme Speed four times on the Alakazam, and then I let go of him. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

"Good work, Jubilee! Now, where is that paint?" We looked around for the paint for a minute, and then Selena found it in a storage closet. "Now we just need an Abra!" Just then, an Abra came walking through the hallway.

"Boss, what is…" The Abra looked at me just before I used Telekinesis to dominate his mind.

"Abra, Teleport all of this paint into the conference room, and don't spill any!" The Abra did as told, and all of the paint was gone in two minutes. "Now, Teleport us back to the conference room." Abra did as told, and I suddenly appeared in the conference room next to Cynthia. "Abra, Teleport back to your base, and forget all of this!" The Abra disappeared, and I rested myself against the table after using that energy.

"So, Mrs. Selena, I see that you had Mrs. Jubilee join you!" Cynthia stated with some confusion.

"Yes Cynthia. The job is complete."

"Good. You may go to bed now. It is nearly midnight." I started to walk out of the room with Selena, but then I stopped myself.

"Cynthia, I'm sorry about attacking you on the first day."

"It's fine, Mrs. Jubilee. I brought you to a foreign place, and I know that you have had trouble making friends before. Just remember that we are all your friends here." I nodded and walked out of the door with Selena. We walked down the elevator, and I pushed the 23 button.

"So, Jubilee, would you like to join me in the game room at eight tommorrow evening? I want to see how good at table tennis you are!"

"Sounds like a plan!" We walked out of our elevators and into our rooms. I closed the door behind me, and looked, to my suprise, to see Gality still awake.

"What had you up so late, Jubilee?" Gality asked, somewhat confused as I usually sleep relatively early.

"Just talking with Selena."

"It seems you two had fun talking. I was talking with Luke while I was working. If you look in that dresser over there, which is now yours, you will find some things you may find useful." I went over to the dresser and opened the door to find about ten dresses, and some pajamas that were all the perfect size.

"You made all of this today?"

"Yes. And if you're curious how the measurements are correct, I just calculated some numbers." I walked over to my bed and pulled the blanket over me.

"I'll try on some of them tomorrow." I was just starting to drift off when Gality interrupted my sleep.

"I won't tell Luke."

"You won't tell him what?" I questioned, extremely confused on the specifics of that statement.

"I won't tell him about the Kadabra base." I gasped.

"How did you know that?!"

"Mind reading. Your excuse was pretty feeble, so I waited for you to lower your defenses. Also, if you need to read my notes on Pokemon, you can just ask me!" Gality then laid down in his bed. I did the same. Gality, you impress me more every day, I thought before drifting off.


	12. Chapter 11: Meddling Kids

**Jubilee**

My alarm clock woke me up at 9:30 a.m. I crawled out of bed, tired as usual, but I could still see that Gality wasn't in the room. _Must be working on more technology, _I thought. I got up and looked at my new dresser. I picked out the pinkish colored dress, put it on, and looked at myself in the mirror that Gality apparently installed as well. The dress was a darker pink in most areas, with more of a Psychic pink spiral going down the sleeves, and The Remnant logo on the back of both sleeves. I walked out of the door to see Selena standing there. She looked at my choice of clothes, with a mildly interested face. "Jubilee, where did you get that?"

"Gality made it."

"He sure is impressive, isn't he? Isn't he also making technology?"

"Apparently. I don't know where he finds the time, but I am not complaining. What are you doing this morning?"

"I'm going to walk up to the conference room with you." Selena motioned for me to walk. "Let's get moving!" We walked into the elevator and hit the appropriate button.

"Selena, Gality found out about our mission."

"How did he do that?"

"He read my mind last night." Selena chuckled.

"Figures. If the man can combine two moves together into an explosion of psychic energy, mind reading isn't out of his league." The door opened, and we walked through the corridors until we arrived at the conference room.

**Red**

I watched from the opposite side of the table as the two ladies walked into the conference room and sat down.

"Hello, ladies, how is the morning so far?" Steven asked in his usual gentlemen-like demeanor.

"Well, I haven't done much, and Jubilee over here woke up about twenty minutes ago!" Selena replied. Jubilee stayed quiet on the matter.

"Well, regardless, Mrs. Jubilee, we would like for you to help our youth learn how to aim their special moves." Cynthia declared. _This could either go well, _I thought. _Or this could be the most mistake ever to plague The Remnant. _Selena looked happy for Jubilee, however Jubilee looked stone-faced, like usual.

"Alright then, when do I start?" Jubilee questioned.

"Follow me!" Steven exclaimed as Jubilee and Selena followed him out of the room. Cynthia walked over to me.

"Red, do you think that we are doing the right thing here?" I shrugged.

"I agree with Red." Blue agreed.

"Well, let's us hope that this changes the girl. Gality really believes in her. He is a really nice Pokemon, so let's hope that he is right!" Cynthia prayed.

**Jubilee**

_I can't believe that they hired a previous murderer as a teacher of the young! _I thought as I walked down the stairs of the arena. "So, Jubilee, today you will tell them how to hit a target dummy. We have about twenty on the east wall, if they do break them. Selena, you watch in case of emergency." Steven explained as he closed the door behind Selena and I. Standing in the middle of the arena was Helen, a Metang, a Horsea, and a Fennekin.

"Hello, young ones!" I said, attempting to be as cheery as possible. "I see you guys have come to learn about aiming of moves?" All of them nodded in unison. "Great! I'm going to be teaching you those skills!" The Metang raised its hand. "What Metang?"

"Will we be able to do what your friend Gality did? Also, my name is Henry."

"Well, first you must be able to fire off one accurate attack. Plus, even I don't know how to do that!" Henry looked slightly disappointed. "Let's get back on track. Our goal is to be able to try to hit that training dummy over there." I pointed at the styrofoam dummy. "Try to aim towards the red circle. Helen, I would like for you to try first." Helen walked over to where I was standing. She stood there and charged Focus Blast and then fired, sending her flying backward about ten feet and the Focus Blast missing by about 20 feet to the left. "Well, it wasn't a bad attempt, however you tried to absolutely obliterate the dummy. Don't try as hard. A smaller blast will work." Helen walked back up to the line and fired again, this time staying standing and almost tagging the dummy on the ear. "Better. Now, I want to to stare at the target. Focus on it." Helen stared down the target, and fired a Focus Blast, which tagged the dummy square in the face, knocking it over. "Well done!" I complimented as I went over to pick up the dummy. "What is your name?" I asked, pointing at the Fennekin.

"My name is Inferno."

"Alright, Inferno, let's see what you have!" Inferno eyed the target, then fired Ember, which hit the dummy in the foot. "Good." I started to go pick up the dummy again when I thought of something. "Why am I walking over there?" The kinds stared at me as I used Telekinesis to put the dummy back into place. The kids looked on in awe as the dummy righted itself. "Henry, it's your turn!" Henry also eyed the target, charged Zen Headbutt, and fired the blast, hitting the dummy in the arm, making it do a spin. "Nice. Now, what is your name?"

"My name is Randall." The Horsea replied.

"Well, Randall, fire away!" Randall eyed the target and used Water Gun, hitting the dummy in the waist. "That was solid all around. Now, true aiming only comes from practice. I have practiced for 20 years, and I could still be better. Now, this is where you will be at some point." I closed my eyes, jumped, spun in the air, and fired a Moonblast, destroying the dummy into twenty pieces.

"Wow!" All the kids gawked in unison.

"Well, that's all for today. Dismissed!" Helen ran over to Selena, and the other three kids ran up to their parents in the spectator area. I walked over to Selena, who was carrying Helen on her shoulders.

"Not too shabby!" Selena laughed. "This class is every two days. Think you can handle it?"

"Yeah. If the kids stay like this, I would do this every day!" I pronounced as I walked back to the room with Selena and Helen.

**Steven**

I walked through the door to see Gality mounting another piece of paper to the wall. He turned around to see me inspecting his drawings. "What is this stuff, and what do you plan to do?" I asked him as he got out of his chair as started walking around.

"Well, you wanted me to make weapons for an army, right?" I nodded. "The easy part is engineering the input for the machine, but the hardest part is finding the right material. The drawings you see up all over the room are rough outlines for devices that would increase the power of one specific input type. Obviously, I can make the machines fior the fours stones I already have, but I know that all eighteen types have a corresponding material. However, I only know the location of two: The fighling stones are found outside of the port city of Tavabrook, and the dragonstone is found… in my old community."

"The fighting one should be somewhat easier then?"

"Correct. However, I would have to go to make sure that we are gathering the correct substance."

"I see. Well, on a separate note, I see that you and Jubilee are wearing different did you have time to make those?" I asked while analyzing Gality's outfit. The shirt was dark red with a pink cross down the center, and the pants were pure dark red with pink accents at the bottom of the pant leg, and Remnant logos on each of the sleeves and pant legs.

"Easy question. I really didn't."

"Oh. Well, I will let you go back to what you were doing." I walked out of the room, slightly concerned. _How hard can that man work? _I thought.

**Jubilee**

I swung the table tennis paddle and missed the ball again. "Shoot!" I exclaimed.

"Well, you can't just win automatically, Jubilee. Do you want to take a break?" I nodded and me and Selena went and sat on two of the chairs in the game room. I looked around to make sure no one else was in the room.

"Selena, do you remember last night when I said that I did some questionable things?"

"Yeah. What about it?" I sighed.

"Well, four days ago, I woke up in the Gardevoir village and was called to the Mayor's office to talk to him. He said that I was going to be exiled because of my aggressive behavior, and then I used Guillotine on him." Selena was drawn aback.

"You know Guillotine?! How?"

"Well, I was angry at my mother one time at the community, so I ran away and crossed the Arctic River. I walked up to the top of the mountain, because I liked to pretend that I could squish the town. However, I saw an illuminated cave on the mountain, and walked in. An old man stood there, and he said he could teach me Guillotine if I killed 75 Vanillish for him. Since I thought it would help me kill faster, I did as instructed, and then learned Telekinesis afterwards to make me a more efficient murderer. Selena, I'm not a good person! I don't know how I even have a friend because everyone I know, I kill!" I felt a tear go down my face, and Selena putting her arms around me.

"It's okay, Jubilee. It's okay. I had to kill 100 Lucario to help Luke and me escape. No one is innocent in this world. What matters is what you choose to be." I lift up my head and put my hand on Selena's shoulder.

"Thanks, Selena. You're a good friend. I think it's time for us to be going to sleep." Selena looked up at the clock displaying ten o'clock at night.

"You're right. Let's get moving!"

I waved goodnight to Selena as I walked into my room to see Gality sitting on his bed with his Pajamas on. I started to switch into mine as he started talking. "So, Jubilee, we need to go to Tavabrook city in two days to retrieve fighling stone to create a device to boost fighting moves. You in?"

"Yes, as long as I can get my lesson for the youth in first!"

"Oh, yeah, Luke told me about that. How was it?"

"I was originally dreading it, but I see myself in the kids. Back when I was young, I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn with a Psychic!"

"That's nice. How do you feel about using technology?"

"I'm sorry Gality, but I don't want to use your technology. It seems unnatural to me."

"Understandable. So, it seems like you like hanging out with Selena?"

"Yes. She is very nice and understanding, and she fights similar to me."

"Well, I'm happy that you have made some friends. However, I think that it's time for me to settle down." Gality laid down in his bed and tucked the blanket over him. I did the same, and let the darkness of sleep envelop me.


	13. Chapter 12: Retrieval

**November 23, Two days after Chapter 11**

**Gality**

I walked through the conference room doors to see the four Remnant leaders sitting in their normal positions. I sat down, and Jubilee sat down to my left, and Selena and Luke sat down to my right. "So, Gality, if I remember what you told me correctly, you're going to sneak into a restricted area with four Pokemon, break into that, and then take the material without being detected?" Steven asked.

"That's the plan, at least."

"Well, how long do you intend to be gone?"

"Probably a day, if things go as planned."

"Good. Get going Gality, and may luck be on your side!" Steven replied as I walked out of the door and out of the front of the base. I looked outside and looked at the sun. _The time is eight in the morning, and the sun rises approximately in the east, so… _I thought as I pointed in approximately the northwest direction, and we started walking in that direction.

"So, Gality, why can't you just Teleport into the base this time?" Jubilee asked.

"Well, for one, I need to use Teleport to get the material out of the base, so I need to conserve energy for it. Secondly, I need to know where to Teleport, and I don't want to Teleport into the ground." I replied as we walked through the snow ridden trees, which haven't thawed since the first day in was in them.

We arrived at the outskirts of the city area of Tavabrook, the port city that had a boat that could take you to other regions. "You two stay here." I pointed at Luke and Selena. "In case that things go wrong." They nodded as I stopped Jubilee from walking straight into the city. "Jubilee, you are still a renegade after your fight at the restaurant." I put my hand on her shoulder and then used Teleport, landing us just inside of the restricted part of the large cave.

"This isn't a base, is it?" Jubilee whispered to me.

"No, it isn't. However, this cave still has miners that definitely could kill us. Stay sharp!" We crept through the base until we saw a split hallway. "Weird that no one is here. You take the left, and I will take the right." Jubilee speed walked down the left hallway, and I tiptoed down the right hallway. I walked down the hallway until I saw a open door. I looked into the room to see that no one was there, and I crept into the room. I gasped as I looked at all of the security cameras in the base, showing the entrance and everything else in the base. I was about to leave the room and warn Jubilee when I was slammed against the computer screen.

"Didn't you hear? The community isn't allowed in this base!" One of the guards screamed as they slammed me into the computer. "Boss? What should we do with this intruder?" My head was throbbing as the guard just waited for an answer. "Kill him? Understood." I heard the guard shuffle. "You have brought death upon yourself, Gallade." I heard a move charge and a Pokemon fall, and the hands holding mine back disappear. I turned around as my eyesight was clearing up to see Jubilee standing in the doorway, and a Machamp laying on the ground, motionless.

"Jubilee, you just killed him!"

"Yeah, he was…" Jubilee gave me an angry look. "You're going to yell at me for saving your life?!" A pink bubble formed around Jubilee, trapping me in it, and destroying the walls that it contacted. "You ungrateful little…! You can't even shake your morals, even a little bit, after I saved you from a MURDERER?! You probably care more about that Machamp than me, someone who DIDN'T try to kill you!" The bubble started rupturing just as other guards that heard the noise came over and started to beat the bubble to try and break it. "I tried to change a little bit, since you most likely saved my life at that jail cell, and you seem somewhat intelligent. But apparently you aren't smart enough to not try and change a MONSTER!" The bubble went down just as a giant rush of pink flew me backwards, and then everything went black.

**Luke**

I looked around in the rubble, looking for Gality and Jubilee. "Selena, have you seen anything yet?" I asked worriedly.

"No, just rubble!" Selena replied as she lifted up some more rubble. _Gality, what did you do? _I thought as I lifted up another large piece of rubble and saw nothing. I lifted up other pieces of rubble, finding some dead Machamp, and getting more and more concerned which each one I found. _Gality's a strong Pokemon, _I kept thinking to myself. _He'll be fine._ I looked around for 30 minutes, getting more worried every moved stone. "Over here!" Selena yelled. I ran over to where Selena was standing. I saw something that I never thought I would see: Gality buried under rubble, not moving.

"How do we get him out?"

"How about be very careful?" We started to uncover Gality, and as we were, we could immediately see that his left arm was definitely broken. We finished uncovering him, and we set him out, inspecting his injuries. Luckily, besides his arm, the only thing broken was a slightly tattered shirt. "So, Luke, what do we do about a broken arm?"

"Deal with that in a minute. Now, where is Jubilee?"

"She can't be here." Selena replied.

"How do you figure that?"

"Well, it seemed like the blast that exploded the base was a psychic blast, and since the guards were Machamp, and Gality can't do that, Jubilee must have done it."

"But why?"

"I don't know. But for now, we need to get Gality back to the base."

"Why can't we just take him to a nearby hospital?"

"We can't do that, Luke! Don't you remember that he is a renegade?"

"Right. So, how do we get him back to the base?"

"We carry him very carefully." I picked up my unconscious friend as Selena and I started walking back to the base.

Selena punched in the combination to open the rock door. We rushed into the door to see Steven standing at the door. "Luke, Selena, what happened here?!"

"We'll explain later. Shouldn't we get him to the medical bay?"

"Yeah, your right! Go, Go!" I rushed off into the direction of the medical bay as Pokemon looked at me running, and followed me towards the medical bay. I walked into the medical bay and ran towards the closest Blissey there. "Miss, where do I set him down?" The Blissey looked at his broken arm. "Follow me!" The Blissey ran into the nearest available room. "Set him down!" I did as she told, then sat down into a chair in the room. The Blissey started to bandage him up. "Mr. Stonewall, can you please go sit in the waiting room as we help your friend." I walked back into the main waiting room to see about twenty Pokemon waiting for me to return.

"So, what's the deal, Luke?" Selena asked me.

"I don't know. I'm assuming that they'll tell us when they're done." I sat next to Selena for about five minutes until the leaders of The Remnant came into the room,

"What happened, Mr. Stonewall?" Cynthia asked.

"I don't know. All I know that there was an explosion of psychic energy, and the entire cave exploded, presumably killing everyone in it besides Gality. I also don't know where Jubilee is, but Selena says that she escaped."

"Very well, Mr. Stonewall. We will have to wait for Mr. Gality to awake."

"Cynthia, on a random note,why do you call Gality Mr. Gality instead of ?" Cynthia thought about it for a moment.

"I don't really know, Mr. Stonewall."

"Well, I will contact you when you can talk to him."

"Very well, Mr. Stonewall. Steven, Red, Blue, what will you guys do?"

"I have other things to do." Blue replied. Red motioned towards the door.

"I'll stay here and wait." Steven stated. "He is my lead engineer, and he probably didn't deserve this."

"Very well." Cynthia walked with Red and Blue out of the door.

"Mr. Stonewall, your friend is awake." The Blissey said as she walked up to me. I followed the Blissey to the room, with Steven and Selena behind me. I walked through the door to see Gality,with a cast on his arm, a bandage on his chest, and another bandage near his shin. The Blissey walked out of the room, leaving us alone.

"Hello." Gality said, much quieter than normal.

"Gality, are you okay?" Gality laughed very softly.

"What do you think, Luke?"

"Not really."

"Correct guess, genius." I was slightly confused with the out of place sarcasm, but I didn't question him about it.

"So, what happened to you?" Gality sighed heavily.

"I was captured by the guards. She killed the guards, and after I said something about it, she destroyed everything." Selena walked up to the bed.

"I haven't known her that long, but that seems very… impulsive on her part. Are you sure that she did it?"

"Yes! I was standing right there!" Gality yelled, making me glance at Steven and Selena. _What happened in there? _ I thought. _He hasn't yelled before, and he's had things to yell about._

"So, what specifically are your injuries?" Steven asked Gality, seemily wanting to change the subject.

"Broken arm, two broken ribs, and a bruised ankle."

"So, how long are you going to be in here, then?"

"Don't know, and I really don't want to think about it for the moment."

"Well,I must inform the rest of the members, and I'm sure that Luke and Selena have things to do." I followed Steven out of the room, and he made sure that he was out of earshot of Gality. "What's wrong with him?"

"I believe that something happened at that base that he isn't telling us." Selena replied.

"Well, why would he do that? He told me about him _actually _killing people, so he really doesn't seem like the secretive type."

"I just feel like that explanation was too simple. You would think that a force that powerful would have more prompting."

"Well, I'm not sure if that is true, but it could be possible." I walked through the doors and back towards the room to make sure that Helen was sleeping when she was supposed to be.

**Jubilee**

I looked at the map on the boat that I was now driving, since the captain was tied up. I turned the boat over towards the B23 water route, which supposedly would lead me to a different region. "What are you doing?!" The captain screamed at me.

"Whatever I want. And unless you want to die, then be quiet." The captain shut up. I looked forward at the ocean, mostly still in front of the boat. _Gality, you're a lucky man, _I thought. _If you hadn't saved me from the Sableye, then you would be dead with the rest of them. However, even with your intelligent mind, you attempted to play golf with a tennis ball, a futile effort. It seems like you will never understand how to not hold back, or truly understand people. _I put the boat on autodrive and walked up to the highest deck, watching the other passengers cover behind chairs. I looked back at the retreating landmass that I used to call my home. "Goodbye, nightmares. I may come back to finish you later!"


	14. Chapter 13: Suspicion and Terror

**Two Weeks after the Tavabrook Mining Facility Explosion, December 7**

**Luke**

I watched as Gality walked out of the medical facility for the first time in two weeks. He walked over to me with his sling still on his left arm, and most likely some bandages still on his chest.

"They could have let me out about two days ago!" Gality complained grumpily.

"You said that three days ago." I pointed out.

"That doesn't mean it isn't true."

"I mean, you may be correct, since I don't know anything about medicine or related topics, but it's just you word versus theirs."

"Are you saying that you don't believe me?" Gality replied in his weird, angry tone.

"No."

"Well, we should be getting back to our rooms. I haven't been in mine for two weeks!" I nodded and tried to hide my concern. _Something is wrong here, _I thought. _He's been way too angry the last two weeks. _We walked down the stairs and to the elevator, which brought us down to our rooms. I went to mine to see Selena sorting her clothes into piles. I locked and pushed the anti-noise button on the door, covering the now yellow and red walls of the room with a forcefield. Selena stopped what she was doing at looked directly at me.

"What are you doing?"

"I hope Gality doesn't have ears on his own projects." Selena looked at me funny and walked over to where I was standing.

"One, that doesn't answer the question. Two, why is that an issue?"

"I feel like Gality is hiding something." Selena was shocked.

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know, but all I have are clues. Did you notice how Jubilee was acting when she came here?"

"She was initially aggressive, and then she felt guilty for most things she had done."

"And what is wrong about that?" Selena thought about it for a moment.

"I don't know… Lucas, Honey, are you sure that you aren't just being paranoid?"

"That is a possibility, but I believe a murderer cannot change in about four days."

"That's understandable, but I would disagree."

"I know you would Selena, because your eyes are clouded by friendship. Jubilee changed almost immediately. _Too immediate."_

"Luke, what are you saying?"

"I think that Gality is using mind control." Selena put her hand on my shoulder and sat me down in the chair, and then she walked over and sat on her bed.

"Are you feeling okay?"

"Yes. I also know that your concerned, because you almost never use my real name. You told me that Gality read Jubilee's mind, correct?"

"Correct."

"How out of the question would it be to say that he could control minds?"

"Now, back to my original point, why?" I sighed.

"I believe that he saw potential in Jubilee, but didn't know if he could change her morals, so he did it for her."

"Do you actually have proof?"

"No. I'm going to gather some information off him. Have you noticed that he has been especially angry lately?"

"Yes."

"Maybe that can help me." Just then, there was a crack in Gality's room.

"What was that?" I hung my head low.

"That must be Gality smashing a dresser. Something about the man I call my friend is messed up. I'm going to figure out what it is."

"I'll let you, but I don't believe it. I won't believe that the person I was talking to just two weeks ago was just a shell!" Selena slammed her fist on her nightstand, splitting it in half. "Oops!" I laughed as she attempted to just lay the parts back together.

"Never learned how to control your strength, could you?" Selena nodded back and smiled. "Never stopped me from falling in love with you, did it?"

"No, Luke, it didn't. And your ability to go into complete nerd mode didn't stop me, either." Selena walked over and kissed me on the cheek.

"If you need me, I'll be playing with Helen in the park." I watched Selena walk out of the room as I hit the button, shutting off the anti-noise forcefield. I took the device that Gality made me, which was a device that blocked a psychic type from taking over my mind, and turned it on. _Gality, I never thought I would use it to protect against you, _I thought. _Time to go into detective mode. _

**Jubilee**

I walked off the ship and onto the new land mass that the ship had gone to, or at least the dock connecting to it "Hello passenger! Sorry, you cannot dismount the ship until the captain has signed this paper!" The Lopunny showed me the paper she was talking about. I used Telekinesis to flip the board under the Lopunny, causing the Lopunny to fall off the dock. I speed walked away, knowing I needed to get to get to the mountain to the north for a vantage point over my future victims, and an escape from the passengers getting off the boat who will notify the authorities. I walked through the vendors and through the Pokemon in what must be the main road of the town. I looked up at a poster, which read "Welcome to Growen Town, Herhen Region". Taking note of that, I hurried outside of the town limits and up the mountain a little bit. I turned around and looked at the town to see searchlights all over it, and five Pokemon who were flying and jumping all over the place. I walked up the mountain until the sun set, and until I could pretend to squish the town with my hand. _Just like home, _I thought. I looked around and saw a cave, and walked into it. _Well, I guess I found my new home. _I started to walk farther into the cave to see what was at the end, but then my body froze. I attempted to move, but my body was frozen by psychic energy.

"Who are you?!" I screamed down the halls of the cave. A cloaked figure standing about five feet tall and with long arms approached.

"Jubilee Psyspeed, I am very impressed with your power."

"How do you know my name?"

"Easy. You're a wanted fugitive all around the adjacent regions of your home region, Dernek. Your explosion of the Tavabrook Mining Facility was very impressive."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to join me in taking down the heroes of the Herhen Region." I was somewhat interested.

"What's in it for me?"

"If you accomplish this task, I will award you with the most powerful psychic move that I know of, Psycho Boost."

"I'm in, Deoxys!"

"Well, that was easy. Wait, how did you know that I was a Deoxys?" The Deoxys took off his cloak, revealing a standard Deoxys.

"Deoxys is the only one that can teach others Psycho Boost. In case you're curious, I would do anything to become more powerful."

"In that case, you're exactly who I am looking for! Follow me, and I will show you your new home." The Deoxys hit a lever behind a rock, and a small metal room showed itself. "This is the main room, and that computer," The Deoxys pointed at the computer, which had a massive screen and a limitless amount of buttons. The Deoxys opened the door on the north side of the room. "This is the treasure vault. This is where are the rewards are held." The room included gold and diamonds, along with many different types of jewels and evolution stones. He closed the door behind him as he motioned for me to sit at one of the chairs around the table in the middle of the room. I sat down and he started to click buttons on his massive computer. "Well, my name is Master Renegade Peter West, or just Peter to you. Here are going to be your eventual targets." Five Pokemon appeared on the screen. "Marty Becky, Rapidash, master of speed and fire. Ansie Des, Tyranitar, master of damage. Elisabeth Andersin, Electivire, master of electricity. Mollie Connie, Bisharp, master of gladiators. Rodney Darby, Hypno, master of the mind. Together, they are The Protectors of Herhen."

"So, how do we beat them, and why do you care?"

"Well, they put me in jail over and over, which just wastes my time, because they refuse to kill. To defeat them, we must split them up, since they are too powerful alone. Tomorrow at eleven, I will inform you of your first mission."

"Am I allowed to kill?"

"Yes, Jubilee. Try to be calculated with it." I smiled. "Well, you better be getting some sleep so you don't get jailed off your first mission. You room is over there to the right." I walked over to where he told me and opened the door to see an extremely luxurious room. I went over and sat on the extremely comfortable bed. _Peter really is stupid rich, _I thought. _On a separate note, this region remind me too much of home, with its heroes refusing to kill. The only thing that ends crime is to stop them for good. No wonder heroes never win!_


	15. Chapter 14: On the Other Hand

**Twelve Days after Jubilee was corrupted by power, December 19**

**Giratina**

I floated around my Distortion World, watching the mind controlled slaves mine infinitely at the unbreakable wall for their insolence for resisting me. Just then, Arceus flew through the large portal connecting the Distortion and normal worlds. "News, Arceus?"

"Yes, master. Groudon and Kyogre are battling for territory again."

"Good. Deal with them."

"Yes." Arceus flew back through the portal and disappeared. I floated over to where Dialga and Palkia were floating.

"Oh, we always became allies and enemies, but who will stop me when I control them all?"

**Arceus**

My body flew over to where Groudon and Kyogre were trading blows, Groudon with Precipice Blades and Kyogre with Origin Pulse. They both stopped to look at me as I arrived there. _Giratina, don't make me do this. Not another creature! _I thought as a Hyper Beam ripped through the air, hitting both and killing both. My body started to fly back as Giratina used Telepathy. _Go to Jodims, there are protesters there. _My body started flying that direction. _You've made me kill Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza 20 years ago, and countless other creatures, but now you turn me on the innocent civilians. This is me now, the royal enforcer of God Giratina, and that's what I'll be until the end of time. There's no one left to turn to. Even the legendaries Zacian and Zamazenta were executed within days of discovery. Even Palkia and Diagla are gone. There's no one to go to, and I couldn't beat Giratina even if I was free. So many beautiful creations of mine decimated, and I had to do the deed. There is no escape. _I approached the city of Jodims and started using Punishment on the civilians, forcing the lucky ones to flee and the unlucky ones to be decimated. _Why was I not strong enough to stop this? I created Giratina, Palkia, and Diagla, but they outmatched me. I must have become complacent over all of those years, and Giratina was always more aggressive than the other two. This is all my fault. If I didn't try and create powerful creatures, humans would still exist, and the ten year-olds would still catch my copies. Wait, how many times have I thought about this? Oh, it all blends together!_

**Antonio**

I sat with my friends in the fighting park, eating lunch. "Hey, Antonio, should we get back to discussing why Gality ran away from the community?" Stephen asked.

"I think that he was just too chicken, like always!" Thomas laughed.

"I don't believe that. He was always against fighting. Maybe he didn't want to fight?" I inputted.

"I disagree. Gality always listened to his father, even if his father told him to fight." Stephen debated.

"Or maybe he was just too nervous!" Thomas remarked.

"Thomas, please stop saying extremely simple answers. We know that Gality was a very complex person, and that alone wouldn't drive him away." I replied as Mayor Swordhand arrived where we were sitting.

"We have a lead on my son, boys!"

"What, Mayor Swordhand?" He pulled out a video screen and sat on the picnic table. He clicked play, and we watched a video of Gality sneaking through the base.

"What does he want there?" Thomas asked. Me and Stephen looked straight at him.

"He wants the fighting stone there!" We answered in unison.

"Okay, okay!" Thomas panicked. We turned back to the computer screen to see Gality getting slammed against the monitor by a Machamp, then a Gardevoir came in and decimated it. Gality seemed to get very angry, then the place exploded.

"Did that Gardevoir just destroy the place?" I asked.

"Yes. Every. Last. Piece. That Gardevoir is the same one that was declared a renegade by the Gardevoir community. She was spotted leaving Tavabrook on a boat to Growen Town in the Herhen region. I want you to capture her, and don't come back until you do!"

"Why do we want her, Mayor?" Stephen asked.

"If we capture her, we may get the Gardevoir search guard to look for Gality. You get on your boat, and get moving!" I got up and walked toward the Royal Guard Espionage boat, and Stephen and Thomas followed me. We walked through the town square and looked right, seeing the junior fight arena. _That's where me and Gality first met, _I thought. _He lost all of the battles that day. The next day, he came and destroyed all of us, minus a student that ran off somewhere. I met him after school and asked where he learned all of those moves, and he brought me to the library. He taught me quite a lot about battle sequences, but I never could master his double move…_

"Antonio! Stop daydreaming!" Thomas yelled as I narrowly dodged running into a pole. "Pay attention! We are about to go on a mission, and you're the battle strategist!"

"Understood, Thomas." I replied as we entered the boat. Stephen went over and sat in the driver's seat, and Thomas and I sat on opposite sides of the boat. Stephen put the roof on the speedboat as he zoomed off the dock.

"Sorry if my driving isn't as good as Gality's!" Stephen said.

"So, Antonio, what's the plan?" Thomas asked.

"I say that we get a room, since we have no idea where the Gardevoir is. This search may take a while, so be prepared. When we track down the Gardevoir, we need to knock her out and take her back to her community."

"Sounds like a plan!" Stephen replied.

"As long as I get to fight!" Thomas exclaimed.

**Stephen**

I parked the boat at the dock and me and the boys jumped off. We passed a lopunny as we walked by, who stepped back weirdly. We walked through the crowded streets until we arrived at the hotel that Antonio had told us to go to, called _Octillery's stay-in. _We walked towards what I assumed to be the reception desk, and am Octillery turned around to greet us. "Hello, gentlemen! I'm Clark the Octillery, the owner of this place. What do you want?"

"We would like a room, please." Antonio answered. The Octillery grabbed a key off his wall of them.

"Room 234, second floor!" The Octillery stated.

"Thank you!" Antonio replied as we walked up the stairs and opened the door to our room. The room was carpeted with white, somewhat fluffy carpet, there were four beds, a weird-looking box, a working kitchen, and a bathroom, along with other furniture. Antonio immediately ran over to the couch and picked up a black rectangular prism with buttons. He pushed one and the box flashed on.

"Antonio, what is that thing?"

"Stephen, do you seriously not know what a television is? I know that you don't keep up with much technology, but this isn't exactly new!" Antonio clicked some other buttons on the television controller. "You go get us some groceries, and them be back here to prepare our first plan of action." I nodded and walked out of the door.

I walked back into the room to see that Antonio was still watching television, and Thomas was vigorously fluffing his pillow. I sat the groceries down on the counter, and then sat down next to Antonio, and looked at the television. We were watching a recording of old battles, when humans were still around. "Antonio, who are these people?"

"Well, this is the new champion of the Alola Region attempting to defeat his friend, Hau." Just then, the screen flipped to a channel that had a Gyrados with a paper propped up in front of him, and a video being played behind him.

"This just in!" The Gyrados boomed in its deep voice. "A Gardevoir has just killed a defender of the region, Marty Becky." The screen showed a Rapidash oddly slumped against a wall. "Stay inside of your homes and take cover. This Gardevoir is extremely dangerous!" He showed an image of the Gardevoir attacking. Sure enough, it was the one we were looking for. "She has last been spotted in the West quadrant of the city." I ran to the window and flung it open, and look at the stars. _So, if the North Star is there, then west is approximately…_

"Come on boys! This might be an easy mission!" I across the canopies of the surrounding buildings, getting to the other side. The other two followed, and I ran across the buildings in the west direction. Antonio caught up to me.

"Why couldn't we just take the street?"

"Too insane. If we lose this chance, it may be awhile until we find her again." Antonio nodded and we kept running until we saw helicopters shining lights onto a location five buildings to the north. "This way!" I jumped over the five streets in the way and stopped behind an air conditioning unit on top of a building.

**Thomas**

We watched as the Gardevoir shot down all of the helicopters, causing the passengers to bail and the helicopters to crash and explode on other buildings. "Should we interfere, Thomas?" Antonio asked.

"No. We'd be decimated!" I replied as the Gardevoir knocked out all of the guards with one Psychic. "In!" I yelled as we jumped down to the ground, rolling as we hit the ground in order to keep our legs intact. The Gardevoir starred us down as we incircled her from a distance.

"Oh, Gality's old friends! How convenient! As you can see, I'm not as passive as that butterfly!"

"Attack!" I screamed as we all charged Psycho Cuts, which she easily dodged, and we had to dodge our own shots. She fired a Moonblast at Stephen, downing him in one blast. I dodged the Moonblast fired at me and went over to get Stephen off the ground.

"What's the tactic, general?"

"She's very specially proficient, and good at dodging. Go in for physical moves!" We both charged in, and I slid under her Moonblast as Stephen used Close Combat, knocking her back, and Antonio knocked her back even farther with an Aerial Ace.

"Very impressive." She said as I ran in for a kick, but then she caught in and slammed me into a wall. I watched, somewhat dazed as Antonio was hit with a Moonblast, and Stephen was lifted into the air with Telekinesis. "But not good enough. Time to die!" I saw what was coming, even if I didn't understand it. I fired Psycho Cut, hitting Stephen just in time to have him knocked out of the way of the Guillotine. I got up and took out Gality's old invention, enveloping my forearms in think metal. "Quick thinking, Gallade. However…" I charged in towards the Gardevoir, but she dodged my attack as the gauntlets fell apart. "I read all of Gality's journals. This power source.." She charged Moonblast and destroyed it. "Makes it run." I charged in to use Brick Break, but she kicked me across the jaw, and then hit me with Moonblast. "You're lucky!" She laughed as she walked away. "I'll keep you alive because you're the only worthwhile challenge in this city!" Stephen got up and attempted to give chase, but I tripped him up.

"Why? We may never find her again!" he whined.

"We will. Anyways, we're way too beat up to pursue. Let's just go back to the apartment and figure this out later." I helped Antonio to his feet, and we started walking back through the lifeless streets.


	16. Chapter 15: Christmas on the Base

**Six days after the Jodim massacre, December 25, Christmas**

**Luke**

I woke up to hear Helen yelling and jumping on me. "Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! It's Christmas!" She basically pulled me out of bed and out of the door, and then I clicked on the correct button on the elevator. The door closed, and Helen started jumping up and down. "What do you think that I'll get this year, Daddy?"

"I don't know, Helen. You'll have to find out!" The door opened, and Helen ran up the stairs at top speed. I just chuckled and went back down to my room to see what Selena was doing. She was just waking up when I walked back through the door.

"Let me guess: Helen pulled you through the door?"

"Correct." Selena chuckled at the turn of events.

"I mean, you did this to yourself. You told her about this, and it is her first Christmas." Selena grabbed the remote for the new Television that Gality installed in every room. She turned it on, and flipped to the news channel. The news was showing a group of small children attempting to make a Chansey out of snow when the topic suddenly changed.

"Breaking news! This is George Heartnlover of the Herhen region news, and the Gardevoir now labeled as "The Hero Slayer" has taken the life of Herhen protector Elisabeth Andersin, and destroyed the Christmas decorations!" Selena turned the television off and slammed the remote against the wall. I ran over and pushed the button to activate the anti-noise button in order to not bother other paterons. "This makes no sense! I know she struggled to stop herself from killing, but the news said 182 innocent civilians were killed, along with a protector of the region. That's mass murder!"

"I think that I have a reason."

"What?" Selena snapped.

"Well, assuming that Gality DID mind control Jubilee," I reasoned, ignoring Selena's anger. "Which I still can't prove directly, there are symptoms of that."

"And what are those? Selena asked concerningly.

"Well, these are possible. I found a book on this stuff at the Stevenston Library. It says the possible symptoms of mind control are psychosis, dementia, acting on a whim, low anger threshold, hallucinations, depression, and complete insanity."

"So… those are just… _possible, _right?"

"Correct. However, it is likely that, if my unfortunate hypothesis is true, she at least has one of these. I can eliminate psychosis, dementia, and hallucinations, since it seems that her battling and planning are not tampered with. She's also probably completely insane, but she could be partly insane, if that makes sense." There was a long pause as I just sat on my bed for a little bit. "Oh yeah!" I exclaimed, trying to change the subject. I went behind my nightstand and pulled out a present. "So do you remember when your wedding ring was blasted by Tapu Lele on our visit to Alola?" Selena nodded. "Well, open this." I gave it to Selena, and she opened the box, revealing a diamond ring.

"How did you get this?!"

"I had Gality make it for me. I told him about your last one, and he says that ring can apparently take the power of one of Gality's double Psycho Cuts. Selena put the ring on, walked over to my side of the bed, and hugged me.

"Its beautiful, Honey."

"Well, I'm glad you like it. We should probably get Helen and bring back the mountain of things that she probably got from her friends." I walked out the door and into the elevator, then up the stairs and to the park, which was covered in Christmas decorations. Helen ran up to us with a multitude of presents in her hands. We picked some of them up and started to walk back towards the room.

**Steven**

I walked into Gality's workshop to see him smoothing the corners on a piece of metal for most likely another project. "Gality!" I shouted over the noise of the machine. He stopped the machine, set the piece of metal on his bench, and took off his safety glasses.

"What, Steven?"

"Go back to your room! Why are you working on Christmas?"

"Because it's my job. But if you say go home, who am I to argue?" Gality walked through the doors of his workshop, holding some sort of present. I walked out of Gality's workshop and into the conference room, where Cynthia was waiting.

"So, you called me here, but what for? There's no one else here!"

"Well, I have something for you." Cynthia walked over to me with a present in her hands. "I know that you collect rare stones, but I have something that you may consider more valuable." I took the present and opened it, amazed at what I saw.

"The old photo at my house in Mossdeep?"

"Yes."

"This photo was taken the day I was crowned champion of Hoenn. Father told me to have a photo made to remember the moment. I wish he was still here. I haven't seen him in almost 200 years."

"Do what you want with that, Steven. I'm going to see how much of a mess the kids caused at the park." Cynthia walked through the doors of the conference room, and I followed her out, but headed up the stairs to my room to find a place to set the photo.

**Luke**

I got up from my side of the bed as I heard a knock on the door. I opened it to see Gality standing there, with a present in his hands. "Hello Gality! Who's that for?"

"You, Luke!" I grabbed the present and walked in the room, and Gality followed me. Selena looked up from the pile of wrapping paper she was under due to Helen.

"What's that, Luke?" Selea asked as more wrapping paper was added to the pile.

"We'll have to find out!" I opened the present as Helen jumped up on the bed to see what it was.

"Did you get a present, Daddy?"

"Yes, Helen!" I replied, picking up the red squares that were in the box. I clicked the button, and they materialized around my hands, then just stopped. :"So, Gality, what do these do excatly?"

"Let me show you!" Gality clicked a button on the right back of the machines, and both of them created red energy shields on both hands. I moved them around, and heard the quiet hum of the energy fields.

"What are those, Daddy?"

"These are the things that keep me from getting hurt." Gality motioned for me to follow him, and I did so. "Will you be alright, Selena?"

"Yes, as long as I don't move!" Selena replied as I shut the door. We made our way to the arena, which was empty that day, and down to the circle.

"So, what should I do, exactly?"

"Block!" Gality yelled as he ran at me and kicked. I put the shield in front of his foot, and he went flying backwards.

"That seems effective!"

"You don't say!" Gality remarked sarcastically as he pulled out a piece of technology and put it on. "Block this!" A yolley of different colored Psycho Cut-looking things came flying at me, and I used the shields to deflect all of them into the floors and walls. "Good. Behind!" Gality Teleported behind me, and I blocked the kick, sending him backwards.

"So, you want a fight, eh?" I asked as I put the shields away. Gality used Teleport, and I rolled to the right to dodge his attack, then I grabbed his leg after his next Teleport and threw him across the room. I then knocked him out of the air after he tried to save himself with Teleport, and he landed on the ground. I ran over and helped him up.

"How did you keep up with that?"

"Easy. I've fought you about ten times, and you tried that same maneuver eight times. YOu become predictable eventually."

"It seems like next time you want me to make up some new maneuvers."

"Well, yeah, I would like some challenge." Gality slapped me on the shoulder.

"You watch your mouth mister!" We both laughed off the arena battlefield and up to the spectator stands. Steven was there to meet us.

"Very interesting technology, Gality."

"Thank you, Steven."

"So, I don't want to overwork you, but what are the plans for your next piece of tech?"

"Well, I would want to…" Their conversation became quieter as they walked towards the main room, and me towards our room, since didn't have a tech mind like Gality or interest in it like Steven had. I walked back into our room to see Helen sleeping and Sleena wearing her best dress: Silver with red stripes at the forearms and waist.

"You should probably get dressed for dinner."

"Fair point." I went to the bathroom and changed into my best suit: Black with a silver X across the chest and a red outline. I walked outside of the base and through the large stone door with Selena, and then we walked towards Nomnher Town.

**Selena**

We walked up to the waiter running the reservations that night. "Table for two, Stonewall." I said to him. The Ursaring looked over the reservation sheet.

"Follow me." He said as he led us into the restaurant. The place was entirely blue, green, red, and lit by candles. The Usraring had us sit down at a booth at the far right corner of the place. "Your menus." He said, handing us the menus. We read over them, and he just waited for us to set them down. "You ready to order?" We both nodded, and he took out his order pad.

"I'll have a Wiki berry Prime cut with a drink of Kelpsy berry juice." I answered and gave the Ursaring my menu.

"I'll have a Raust berry burger with a water to drink." The Ursaring picked up Luke's menu and walked towards the kitchen.

"Figures that you would order a water at a fancy restaurant."

"What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing." We sat in silence for a couple of minutes. "Didn't you tell me that you grew a couple of days ago?"

"I grew an inch since last year."

"How is that possible? You're 23, and should already be full grown. I mean, I'm 24, as you know, and I haven't grown in six years."

"I mean, I'm still only four foot eleven, which is still short for a Lucario of today, and shorter than Gality."

"What do you mean by Lucario of today?"

"Lucario used to be about three foor eleven."

"How would they fight?" I asked. Luke shrugged.

"I don't know. It would definitely be harder, but not impossible." Just then, the Ursaring brought us our food, and we dug in.

**Luke**

We climbed onto Henry the Charizard, who offered to take us back from the restaurant because he had a mission to do in the area. We flew into the air, going towards the base. "Hey Henry!" I shouted over the wind. He turned his neck to face me.

"What, Luke?"

"Was it sad that you had to take on a mission on Christmas day?"

"Yes, but someone had to do it, and I didn't want to mess up anyone else's day plans." I sat in silence for a while until I felt Selena fall against me, asleep. I chuckled to myself. _Only Selena could fall asleep riding on a Charizard, _I thought. We landed in front of the stone entrance, and I carried Selena off Henry.

"Thanks, Henry!"

"No problem!" Henry replied as he flew up to the flying Pokemon entrance. I carried Selena all the way to our room, where Helen was still sleeping. I set her down on her side of the bed and tucked her in. I changed into my pajamas and layed on my side of the bed.

"Goodnight, Selena." I whispered. "And I love you."


	17. Chapter 16: Toward the End

**Seventeen Days past Christmas, January 11**

**Luke**

I walked into the conference room with Gality and Selena to see the leaders of The Remnant drawing on a map of some base. They turned around to see us, and all but Steven sat down. We all sat down and waited for orders. "Thank you for being on time." Steven thanked as he was reviewed the red line on the map-looking thing. "We are going to complete one-fourth of our grand mission: A portal to the Distortion World. We have located one part of the portal in an ancient cave east of Jodims. Beware the city, since the citizens are hostile because of the attack of Arceus on some protestors there."

"Steven?" I interrupted.

"What, Luke?"

"Are you just sending us on this mission?"

"Yes. To my knowledge, Giratina doesn't know about us. If they did, we would all be dead. For this first part, you three should suffice. For future ones, they will be more fortified, since there are less to protect. Now, let's get back onto the plan. You guys will enter from a side entrance, and enter the vault. One person will have to carry it, but that person cannot fight while carrying it. Now move out!" We walked out of the base and through the doors, meeting Henry outside. We all mounted him, and we flew towards the base.

Henry landed about three hundred feet from the side entrance of the cave, and we all jumped off. "Henry, are you sure that you don't want to come?" I asked.

"Luke, you know that I don't like enclosed spaces. I'll pass!" Henry replied as we walked towards the side entrance of the base. We looked in, and then peeped back as we saw a Froslass guarding the entrance.

"Don't use you fighting moves." Gality stated. "It won't affect them at all." Selena and I nodded, and then we walked inside. Selena immediately downed the Froslass with a Dragon Pulse. We krept through the stalactites of the cave until we encountered another Pokemon, which was a Houndoom. Gality used Brick Break behind it, knocking it out. We arrived at a door, made out of some odd stone. Selena kicked the door, shattering it. Gality picked up some of the pieces as we walked through the shards. We stopped again after seeing a Crobat. I charged Meteor Mash and hit it directly in the face, knocking it out. We started to run towards what looked like a large metal door when Gality tripped and set off an alarm.

"Intruder alert in the portal sector!" The alarm system blared.

"Run!" Gality screamed as we opened the door, revealing a large black control module. "The portal piece!" Gality grabbed it, and then we ran into another hallway as a regiment of poison, dark, and ghost types came running towards the door. We ran up to a balcony overlooking the area, and hid behind a crate.

"Gality, is the way we came through all of those guards?" I asked. He nodded, and Selena opened fire on the pile with Dragon Pulse, knocking out three of the Pokemon. They all opened fire on us, and Gality set down the portal module to start firing Psycho Cuts, knocking down poison types, decently hitting ghost types. But virtually bouncing off dark types. I started to use Meteor Mash to help the other two clear out the hoard, but they just kept coming. Eventually, a large black ball came flying towards us. The last thing I remember before darkness was Gality screaming.

**Two days after the failed retrieval of the Distortion World Portal device, January 13**

**Gality**

I opened my eyes to see about twelve Pokemon typing on computers. I tried to move, but I could see that I was strapped to a wall by Darkstone shackles. I attempted to break them with telekinesis, but the shackle's dampening power was too strong. A Froslass floated over to where I was located. "I see that you have woken up! Now, let's get down to business. Who sent you?"

"Why would you want to know?" I spat back at him. The Froslass turned around, annoyed.

"Great. The usual response: nothing useful. Lieutenant!" The Froslass shouted at a Sableye. "Put the machine at 600 volts, and fire!" The Sableye clicked a button, and I felt electricity surging up my body, causing me to scream in pain. The electricity stopped, and I was able to flex my fingers again. "I like that sound!" The Froslass laughed. "Now, would you like to tell me the information?"

"Go hit yourself with a Shadow Ball!"

"Lieutenant, increase voltage to 8000 volts." I felt the electricity surging up through me, but much more powerful and painful. They stopped the machine, but I lost feeling in my arms. "Ready now?"

"Never… Never…"

"Lieutenant, he's useless. 30000 volts, one half second." Everything began to turn white, and then very light, then blackness.

**Fifteen Days after the failed retrieval of the Distortion World Portal device, January 26**

**Selena**

I opened my eyes to see Cynthia and Steven sitting in a chair over to my right, and a cast on my right leg and arm. Cynthia and Steven noticed me stirring, and walked over to the bed that I was sitting in. "Selena, are you awake?" Steven asked.

"Yes, Steven? But where am I?"

"You are in The Remnant's medical bay. You have been in a coma for fifteen days."

"What happened?"

"Henry says that he saw you flying out of the mountain where the cave was located, with a large Shadow Ball following you. He picked you up out of the snow, and brought you here."

"Where's Luke?" Cynthia and Steven looked at each other, concerned.

"Mrs. Stonewall, we don't know where Mr. Stonewall is." Cynthia replied sadly.

"What…?"

"Stay calm, Selena!" Steven said, trying to calm my rising anger, which was fruitless.

"You want me to calm down? You want me to calm down even through the man that redeemed me as a person, and who is also my greatest friend and husband, is missing?! You fools!" I destroyed the bed and started limping away. Cynthia started to catch up with me, but Steven stopped her.

"Just let her go." I turned around.

"Good decision. By the way, if I find him gone, don't expect for me or that mountain to return." I limped off into Gality's workshop, and found his machine that allowed for someone to move without usable legs. I then walked out of the base, and towards the mountain. _I probably have to find Gality as well, _I thought. _Why wasn't I strong enough to stop it? _

I walked into the cave again, which was still somewhat destroyed from our small siege.I walked through the main entrance, and slammed the first Houndoom that I found against the wall with my one usable hand. "Where is the Lucario?" The Houndoom said nothing, and kept trying to get out of my grip. However, he started running out of oxygen, so he stopped.

"He's on the second level!" The Houndoom squeaked. I charged a Dragon Pulse and ended him, then moved on. I encountered a couple of Pokemon on the way to the stairs, finishing them all easily. I walked up the stairs, then turned left to see Gality, strapped to a wall, unconscious. _Why did I let this happen? _I thought as I moved into the room.

"Intruder!" A Froslass shouted right before I ended him with Dragon Pulse. The others in the room tried to flee, but very unsuccessfully. I broke all of the cuffs holding him up, and caught him as he fell. He immediately seemed too limp for just being unconscious, and still being alive. _Oh Grand Creator, he's paralayzed. What happened to Luke? _I thought, setting Gality down in the corner of the room, hidden. I walked down about three rooms to see Luke floating in a pink colored forcefield. The side of his face was as black as the night. _The color of unending nightmares. Please don't be under its effects! _I thought as I entered the room. I immediately used Dragon Pulse, hitting everyone there at once. They all went flying back against the wall and stopped moving. I pushed a button labeled _deactivate holding chamber _and pushed it, causing it to drop Luke onto the floor. I picked him up, then rushed over to the room that Gality was in, picking him up as well. I walked out of the base, where Henry was waiting. I set them on his back, jumped on, then flew towards The Remnant base.

**Thirty Hours since the retrieval of Gality and Luke, January 27**

**Blue**

Steven walked over to where I was sitting, which was outside of Luke's hospital room. "Blue, what's the situation?"

"Selena's been in there for thirty hours, mostly crying. I didn't have the guts to ask her anything yet." Steven walked into the room, and I followed. We sat down on the opposite side of the bed, and Selena looked away from Luke and at us.

"What do you want?"

"We want to know what happened." I stated.

"They were both tortured. Gality is paralysed on both of his legs and right arm, and Luke is stuck in Nightmare."

"What is Nightmare do, exactly?" Steven asked.

"It makes the Pokemon live their five worst fears over and over… oh, it's all my fault! I wasn't powerful enough to save them!"

"Selena, it's not your fault!" I reassured.

"No, it is! I was more powerful than Gality and Luke, and you know that! I couldn't protect anything!" Selena sobbed. Steven motioned that we leave, and I did so. I followed him outside of the medical bay.

"Why didn't we send more Pokemon?" Steven asked.

"Steven, we didn't know."

"We should have waited. We put a group of fighting types against a group made up of one-third ghost types, for goodness sake!"

"Yes, we know that now, but we didn't before. Let's me more careful in the future to avoid more casualties."

"Agreed." I walked up towards my room, and Steven went over to Gality's workshop, most likely to look at some of the last things he had created.


	18. Chapter 17: On the Hunt

**One Week after the blaming of selves because of the failed retrieval, February 3**

**Antonio**

I sat with Thomas and Stephen at the dinner table, eating one of Stephen's Hondew Berry Ravioli when the television turned on. "Antonio, did you turn on the television?" Stephen asked. I shook my head.

"Breaking news!" The same Gyrados from last time announced. "Herhen Protector Ansie Des has been killed by "The Hero Slayer". Reports say that she was spotted in the Eastern District, dispatching police officers. She then fled the scene." Thomas smashed his fist against the table.

"We can't make it there in time!"

"Relax, Thomas!" I replied. "Besides, the news broadcaster said that she fled anyway!"

"Well, that's enough information for me!" Stephen assured as he grabbed his bag full of detective equipment. Me and Thomas looked at each other, then got prepared to leave. We followed Stephen out of the hotel, and we started walking to the crime scene.

We arrived at the police barrier around the crime scene. One of the officers, a Mr. Mime, approached us. "Civilians, please stay back. This is a crime scene!" Stephen showed him our badges.

"Gallade Royal Guard. I'm the division's detective." The Mr. Mime backed up a couple of steps.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, gentlemen! Come right in!" The Mr. Mime opened up a hole in the police barrier, allowing us to walk inside. Some of the policemen there moved aside so that Stephen could analyze the scene of the crime.

**Stephen**

I set down my bag and looked at the body of Ansie Des, the Tyrannitar. I examined the large, light pink colored circle on her side. "Killed by a Moonblast, typical of a dark type. The blast most likely came from the east, which would be the desirable way to flee." I said to Antonio and Thomas. I grabbed my bag and started to walk that way when one of the police officers caught up with me.

"Gallade Royal Guardsman, do you need some of our units?"

"No thank you. I know that your divisions are beat up. We can handle this." The officer nodded and walked back towards the crime scene. Antonio, Thomas, and I walked down a couple of alleys until we found the city limits. I pulled a footprint detector out of my bag and set it on _Gardevoir _and scanned the ground, but found nothing.

"Well, I guess she didn't escape this way!" Thomas proclaimed as I started to follow him back.

"Wait!" I exclaimed. Thomas and Antonio stopped walking and turned to look at me. "Thomas, would you consider the Gardevoir acrobatic?"

"Yes, her fighting style was very acrobatic and physically demanding. So what?"

"So, what happened.." I faced the detector towards the wall, outlining a footprint of a Gardevoir. "If she thought ahead?" Antonio patted me on the back.

"Good work. Now, where did she go from here?"

"I say she went up Mount Herhen. I mean, that is the best place to not be found."

"Then let's get moving!" Antonio commanded as I started walking after him, and Thomas behind me, more reluctant.

"I hate cold.." I heard him mutter behind me.

We arrived at the start of the trail that went straight up to the top of Mount Herhen. "Well, Stephen, she didn't just walk up the clearly visible trail. Where did she go to?" Antonio asked. I pulled out a map of Mount Herhen and started to examine possible locations.

"Stephen, why do you have a map of a mountain that isn't near your home?" Thomas questioned.

"Thomas, I'm a detective. It would be difficult to find things if I had no idea where to go." I looked over the map until I saw an area labeled _Kabutops Caves. _I pointed to it on the map.

"That would be a great place to hide. However, that place is about a day and a half away from here. We can rest at the town Frozen Creek, which is about a day away."

"So, should we get going?" Antonio asked. I nodded. "Show us the way, then!" I started walking in the direction of the town, and I heard Thomas groaning as he had to start trudging through the snow.

We approached the outer limits of Frozen Creek, but there was no light. We all turned all of our flashlights and started walking down an alley. We walked onto the main street, but to my shock, there were dead bodies everywhere. "What happened here, Stephen?" Antonio asked. I walked up to some of the dead bodies, and saw a variety of wounds.

"Well, I see a large margin of wound indicating death by Psychic and Moonblast, which would indicate a Gardevoir was here, but if you look at this Abomasnow…" I pointed that the unmoving Pokemon. "That is a wound indicating death by Guillotine." Thomas shivered a little bit.

"I think your memory is pretty bad, then. That Gardevoir almost cut YOU in half with Guillotine!" Thomas reminded.

"Oh, yeah, you're right. That means that we must be on the right track then. However, we are going to have to sleep in one of these buildings tonight if you don't want to freeze."

"So, we're going to have to sleep in the city of dead Pokemon?" Thomas groaned. I nodded and walked into a nearby house, with Thomas and Antonio behind me. Thomas closed the door, locked it, and started to lock and cover the windows. I set the thermostat to 73 degrees instead of 23, since this house was originally made for ice types. Antonio sat on the couch on the opposite side of the room.

"Do you know about how long ago the Pokemon died?" Antonio inquired.

"They range from 56 to 58 hours ago."

"So, this was recent. How did no one find out about this?"

"It's possible that the Gardevoir killed everyone. She is very powerful." Thomas walked down the stairs.

"Well, all of the hatches are battened down. We can sleep now, you know!"

"That would be a good plan." I replied.

"Well, you two get the couches. I get the bed upstairs!" Thomas demanded as he ran up the stairs at full speed. I layed down on one couch, and Antonio the other. It took about five minutes for me to fall asleep after nine hours of walking.

I woke up to the sound of someone walking through the house. I looked to my side to see Antonio also awake, and Thomas standing between us, staring at the door. "Thomas, what are you doing?" I asked.

"I could say the same for you." Both me and Antonio hopped up into battle position.

"Thomas, are you all there?" Antonio questioned worriedly.

"I mean, he doesn't currently have a physical form at the moment." I readied a Psycho Cut.

"Get out of his head!"

"I see that we have a quick learner. However, I cannot honor that request." Thomas ran out of the door and shot all of the structure's support beams with Psycho Cut, causing Antonio and I to flee the building. I stood in front of Thomas.

"I'm sorry about this, friend!" I apologized as I launched Psycho Cut, however Thomas dodged it. He charged at me with a Brick Break, but I countered him with Close Combat. We both were sent flying backward, and Antonio used Aerial Ace to try and hit Thomas while he was down. However, Thomas cancelled the homing effect by using Slash, which sent Antonio into a building. I fired a Leaf Blade, hoping the more projectiles would result in a hit, but I was incorrect. He ran towards me with Brick Break again, however Antonio was able to get up and use Aerial Ace, knocking Thomas to the floor. He started to arise, holding his head.

"What happened?" I sighed in relief.

"You were mind controlled by someone."

"Was it Gality? That is his forte."

"I don't believe so. I don't know exactly know where he is, but he isn't here. You have to be within half a mile of your target to use mind control."

"Well, then, who did it?"

"I don't know. However, We must find out in the morning!"

**Peter**

I smashed the keyboard of my computer as the mind control wore off. I opened the door of Jubilee's room, where she was blasting a test dummy with Moonblast. "We have encountered a possible problem."

"What would that be?"

"Gality's old friends are near the base, and they broke out of my mind control."

"Don't be worried. They cannot defeat me."

"I know. I'm just notifying you of this fact, in case they find the base tomorrow." I walked out of the room, closed the door, and walked into the treasury room. I clicked the _hide _button, sending all of the loot into a hole below the room, and replacing the floor where the loot used to be. I walked back up to the computer, which displayed the trio walking back into one of the houses in the city. _Oh, you poor souls, _I thought. _You don't know what you are dealing with._

**Thirty Minutes after the Mind Control of Thomas, Distortion World, February 3**

**Giratina**

I watched as one of my servants, a Charizard, exited the portal linking the Distortion and normal worlds. "How is the torture of those two intruders going?"

"Master, they have escaped, and all of the guards there are dead."

"Is the portal fragment still there?"

"No." I charged Phantom Force and disappeared, and watched as the Charizard frantically looked around in all directions as I hit him in the back, killing him.

"YOU USELESS FOOLS!" I screamed at all of the Pokemon in my area. "SOME POKEMON HAS GATHERED ONE OF THE PORTAL PIECES! EVERYONE, FIND THEM!" Every one of the Pokemon ran through the portal and in all directions, eager to not be killed. _Well, just maybe we have found someone worth my time! _I thought as I walked towards Diagla and Palkia. "Because you were not!"


	19. Chapter 18: Curing Paralysis

**Four Days after the mind control of Thomas, February 7**

**Steven**

I walked into Gality's workshop to see him sitting in a wheelchair, staring annoyingly at some of his invention plans. "Good morning, Gality. Why have you called me here?" He turned his wheelchair to face me.

"I have been doing some experiments, and determined that my paralysis was caused by a strong electric attack. That attack has caused electricity to be trapped in my arm and legs, and if it can be removed, I can go back to normal. If I remember correctly, back when you were a champion, they used a substance to heal paralysis."

"That is correct."

"Well, I believe that I have found something that would work like that: the material called Negative Zapily. The Zapily that I have takes in other types of moves and changes them into electric type, but not electric. Negative Zapily will absorb electricity, which may clear my paralysis."

"Are you sure that this will work?"

"Not at all. But it's better than doing nothing!"

"Where is the stone?"

"It's at the top of Mount Dernek."

"The highest in the region. How am I supposed to get up there without suffocating?"

"I have a mask and suit that can counteract the altitude. However, I only have two."

"So, you want me to go get someone else to volunteer?"

"Yes! Going alone is not a great plan!"

"Well, let me go do that."

I stood at the front of the conference room and waited for the other three Remnant leaders to sit down. Once they did, I stated the mission. "So, Gality needs two of us to go to Mount Dernek to get a Negative Zapily."

"What for?" Cynthia asked.

"He says that they might heal his paralysis. So, who will go?" Red immediately walked out of the room. "Well, I'm going to say that is a no. Cynthia?"

"I'll pass. I don't wish to freeze to death."

"Blue?"

"I'll go, Steven. What do we need to do?"

"Follow me." We walked out of the door and into Gality's workshop. He was pulling the equipment out of a box when we entered.

"I see you have recruited Blue!" Gality stated. "Put this equipment before you summit the mountain. There are backpacks to the right." I grabbed the gear and started putting it in the bag, examining it. _Insulating pants and shirt, heat regulator, oxygen mask, oxygen tanks… where did Gality get these things, or how did he make them with just one hand in about ten days? _I thought as I zipped up the bag and stood up. Blue was already done and ready to go. "Steven, take this map." Gality handed it to me, and I examined all of the red lines and dots all over it.

"What do all of these markings mean?"

"Those marks show you the route up the mountain that doesn't require climbing equipment. This trek will take you longer than two days."

"Wait, why can't Blue and I use our Pokemon that can fly?"

"You can use that to get there, but they will get too cold, even if they both resist cold. Plus, they would suffocate because of a lack of oxygen. Also, I should mention that there is a communication system between the two masks." I nodded, put the map in my backpack, and walked out of the workshop to meet Blue at the exit door. He opened it up, and we walked out into the cold February air, me with a metallic blue coat on, and Blue with a heavy winter coat on. I threw out Skarmory, and Blue threw out Pidgeot. We mounted our Pokemon, and made sure that we were secure.

"To Mount Dernek!" Skarmory took off, with Pidgeot behind me.

Skarmory landed at the summit of the mountain. "Good job!" I retracted Skarmory back into the Pokeball just as Pidgeot landed behind me. Blue retracted Pidgeot as well as I started to put on the suit. I put the insulated shirt and pants over my current outfit, and then the mask. An interface appeared on the side of the mask, with _connecting_ displayed on the far right. Then, _connected _displayed, then disappeared. "Blue, can you hear me?"

"Yes, I can. How did Gality build this? It even has current weather conditions, and other numbers on the left side of the mask!" We started to walk up the mountain, and I pulled out the map. I was trying to figure out out current direction when the map appeared on the mask screen, with all of the markings that Gality had put on there, as well as a compass. I put the map away and started following the map on my screen.

"The map is on my screen. Is it on yours?" Blue asked.

"Yes. It must have scanned it, though Gality didn't mention that it could do that."

"Well that should help us in our walk."

"Yes, it should." I should the compass to take a turn up a slight incline, with the visibility slowly getting worse.

**Blue**

I was getting bored of staring at snow and snowflakes, so I started reading the numbers on the left side of the interface. _So, it is 263 Kelvin where I am. Why would Gality put the numbers in Kelvin? I don't know what that means! _I thought, continuing to read the numbers. _It's currently 296 Kelvin in the suit. Nothing is broken, and I don't know what the rest of the stuff means. _Just then, an Ice Shard hit a piece of rock above us, causing it to fall. "Steven, get down!" We both dove behind a snowbank as the piece of rock fell. We got up and looked around.

"What was that?" Steven questioned.

"An Ice Shard hit the rock. Someone has spotted us." We looked around for Pokemon, but then the tree behind us was split in half by another Ice Shard, and fell opposite of us, revealing six Glalie standing in a line. We ran to the right as they fired again, in a group this time. "Go, Charizard!" I announced, throwing out the fiery dragon.

"Go, Metagross!" Steven said, throwing it out. "Meteor Mash!" Metagross did as told, firing the steel move, knocking out one of the Glalie.

"Charizard, fly over and flamethrower!" Charizard flew overhead of the Glalie, who were blasting the immovable wall that is Metagross with Ice Shard, and used Flamethrower on all of them, knocking them all out. I signaled Charizard back over, and retracted him, and Steven retracted Metagross.

"Good work!" Steven complimented as he walked over to the downed Glalie. He examined them for a minute until he motioned me over there. He pointed out a logo containing a picture of Giratina in origin form with a dark cloud behind it.

"One of Giratina's soldiers? What are they doing here?"

"I don't know, Blue. All I know is that we should get that electric stone, and get out of here!" I nodded, and we continued up the mountain.

Steven pointed towards a cave off to my right, and we walked into it. He pulled out some wood out of his backpack, and Charizard used Flamethrower to light a fire, then I retracted him. We sat on opposite sides of the fire, and just sat there for a minute. "Steven, have you ever thought about how the Age Aura will disappear when we defeat Giratina?"

"Blue, the Aura keeps every human that is still alive around thirty years old, and anyone younger will age up to that point. Giratina put it on the world because it also works on Pokemon, as well."

"Steven, that DOES NOT answer my question."

"I don't, and I don't want to. Giratina must be defeated, and the few good things that happened along with Giratina's rule are insignificant compared to the negatives!" Stevem laid down, and I did the same. _He seemed very agitated about that. Why?_

I woke up just as Steven got up, and the fire had already gone out. We walked outside of the cave and into a more open area, with a large hill to our right. Just then, the ground started rumbling, causing us to fall to the ground. "What is happening?!" I asked.

"Avalanche!" Steven replied as he reached for his Pokeballs. I did the same, and threw out Charizard, and took off alongside Steven. We flew over the cascading snow on the mountain.

"Do you know what could cause this?" Steven looked around at the top of the mountain.

"Not particularly."

"Could we have caused this?"

"Well, its possi…." Just then, his Skarmory was hit with Fire Blast, and they both fell to the ground.

"STEVEN!" I screamed as Charizard dived down to try and find him in the moving snow, but couldn't find anything. The snow stopped moving, and about a minute later, I saw a hand sticking out of the snow. Charizard landed in that area, then melted the snow around him. I pulled him up, but didn't see Skarmory anywhere. "You alright?"

"Yes, besides that my mask is telling me that my oxygen supply will run out in ten minutes, and my Skarmony is critically injured!" I threw out my Pidgeot, and Steven mounted, flying towards the area with the stone. We flew fast, getting to the cave with the stone in two minutes. We ran into the cave and where the stone would be, where six Froslass were waiting. We ran back through the cave, running from the Icicle Spears flying past us. We got to a turn in the cave, and hid in a crevice in the wall until the Froslass passed, then we ran back and grabbed the stone. We ran towards the cave opening, directly passed the Froslass, who fired at us as we mounted our Pokemon and as we flew away. Charizard took evasive maneuvers until the Icicle Spears were flying under us, then both Pidgeot and Charizard dived down, trying to get down to breathable air before Steven's air runs out. After some very long minutes, our birds started falling out of the sky.

"Charizard, what's wrong?" I asked, then remembered what Steven told me Gality said that our mounts would freeze if they were out too long. We both crashed into the snow, and Steven pulled off his mask, gasping for air as I immediately retracted both of my birds. I ran over to Steven, and helped him up to his feet, walking down the remaining couple hundred feet of the mountain. We finally escaped from the snow, and Steven started walking under his own power after regaining his breath. "How much time did we have left?"

"Negative eleven seconds."

"Always cutting it close, aren't we?" We both laughed and started walking back to the base.

We walked into Gality's Workshop, where he was organizing something with his operating hand. He turned around to see us walk into the door, where Steven gave him the stone, and put his busted equipment on his desk. Gality goes over and examines it, and focused on the couple holes and cracks in it. "What did you get you guys get into?"

"Avalanche and Giratina's guards. I'll tell you after you do your thing with that Negative Zapily." Gality nodded. He cut part of the rock off, then put it in a small, handheld machine.

"I need you guys to walk out for a minute. This method will produce a large amount of light that could blind you guys. We walked out of the room, and both walked towards the Medical Bay, where we approached the front desk, where a Blissey was standing.

"What is it, Steven and Blue?"

"My Skarmory is burned, and Blue's Charizard and Pidgeot are frozen." Steven replied.

"Steven, follow me." The Blissey motioned over to her left. "Blue, you follow her over there." I followed the Blissey that the first one motioned to, and we walked into a room. I threw out both of them, then walked back out to the lobby as to let the nurses do their work. After a couple of minutes, Steven walked out, and we walked back to the door to Gality's Workshop to see bright yellow light from under the door, then it stopped, and the door opened, revealing a standing Gality, however his arm still didn't look right.

"Did it not work for your arm, Gality?" Steven questioned.

"No, and I don't know why!"

"Well, let's walk for a second, and evaluate our options, and I'll tell you what happened on the mountain." Steven and Gality walked towards Gality's room, and I walked towards the Medical Bay to see how my Charizard and Pidgeot were doing.


	20. Chapter 19: Catching Prey

**Ten Minutes after Steven and Blue returned from the summit of Mount Dernek**

**Stephen**

We walked out of what had to be the hundredth cave at that point, and into another. "Stephen, I started questioning your guess about where this Gardevoir was about ten caves ago, but we have gone through _Twenty-Two _of these things!" Thomas complained.

"Sorry Thomas, but I had to make a guess off pretty much nothing besides a direction. Do it yourself next time if you think that you could do better!" I replied as we walked around some more stalagmites.

"Also, I haven't seen many Kaputops in these caves."

"Do you want to?"

"Not really."

"Plus, you're not going to find many rock or water types here." We kept walking through all of the corridors of the cave, and found absolutely nothing.

"Oh boy! Another dud!" Thomas exclaimed sarcastically. We walked out of the cave, where it was starting to snow again. "Even better! Now it's even colder!"

"Thomas, stop." Antonio commanded. "None of us enjoy this, and you don't see us grumbling!" Thomas reluctantly stopped talking and walked into another cave. We walked through it, just seeing rocks. "Hey Stephen, come over here!" I walked over to where he was standing, and he was looking at a sparkling light green rock. "Is that one of those elemental stones?" I took my hand and pulled a solid chunk off the wall.

"I believe that it is the grass elemental rock. I left my book back at the hotel, so I don't know exactly what it's called."

"Would you have any idea if you could make one of Gality's machines with that?"

"Maybe. It would take me a while, and I would have to use Gality's old equipment back at the town." We walked away to explore the rest of the cave, which just contained more rock.

After going through another five caves, we set up camp in the trees, since Thomas didn't want to sleep in the ghost town. I was sitting on a log, with Thomas on my left and Antonio on my right. "So, Stephen, how many do we have left?" Antonio asked as he was pulling a blanket out from his bag.

"Only two."

"Good! I'm getting real tired of this!" Thomas remarked.

"So, are we prepared if we find the Gardevoir in one of those two?" I asked. Thomas looked at me like I was stupid.

"Stephen, I've been ready since we started."

"I'm ready." Antonio answered in his usual leader voice.

"Good. Well, Thomas, would you like to go over the battle strategy?"

"I would love to!" Thomas leaned forward, closer to the fire."Stephen, attempt to use Close Combat as much as possible. Antonio and I will do the same with Brick Break and Aerial Ace. She is very dangerous one on one, so it would be recommended for at least two of us to engage at the same time. If that's not possible, use your projectile attacks to stall, since she will most likely dodge them. Got it?" Antonio and I nodded. "Good." We all went silent, and I walked away from our little camp site, and to a small cliff overlooking a river. _Gality, I don't understand why we are in this situation. Why did you run? I know you never did like fighting, but why did you run when you fought your father? _I thought. I sat there for about a minute, thinking, when I heard a voice. "You wouldn't believe me, anyway." I looked around, and saw nothing.

"Antonio? Thomas? Is that you being doofuses?"

"No." I saw a somewhat pink tainted Gality walk out from behind a rock.

"Freeze!" I yelled, charging Psycho Cut, ready to strike if he made any sudden movements. He kept walking.

"I would like to see you try." I fired the Psycho Cut, and it went right through him. "This is a Psychic projection. I'm not actually here."

"How is that possible?"

"None of your concern, my old friend."

"How did you find us?"

"Also not your problem."

"Well, why are you here, and why do you have a sling on your arm?"

"I'm here because I'm giving you guys one last chance, and for the second, I have done some work."

"For who?"

"People who oppose you. On that note, I have come here to try and sway you to my side."

"And why would I do that?"

"Because if you don't, there is a good chance that you will be obliterated."

"I doubt that."

"Well, let me answer your question. I did indeed fight him. I lost terribly, and he tried to kill me. I teleported away, and ran to this place. They understand what has to be done to free this world."

"One, why should I believe you, and two, you sound like you're trying to conquer the region, from my point of view." Secretly, I turned on a machine that I had that could track psychic energy, as long as they weren't under 30 feet of something.

"The Gallade government keeps you guys ignorant, so that they can control you."

"And why should I believe a renegade?" Gality sighed.

"Just as I expected. There is no hope for you. We are the light in the darkness, and will free this world. Goodbye, Stephen. I won't see you again." The psychic energy disappeared, and the machine tracked that the energy went towards the Dernek Region. I walked back to the camp, where Antonio and Thomas were staring at me as I sat down.

"Who were you talking to? Yourself?" Thomas asked.

"I was talking to a psychic projection of Gality."

"Are you sure that you're okay?"

"Is that even possible?" Antonio questioned. I shrugged, and took the recorder that I always keep on my collar off, and clicked the replay button. They listened to the entire conversation.

"He sounds like he's gone of the deep end." Thomas stated.

"I don't want to believe that Gality is completely gone, but now he's saying that our government is lying to us. I can't believe that." Antonio said. "Also, what was the "We are the light in the darkness, and will free this world" part?"

"I'm thinking it could be a motto for the group he is a part of." I answered.

"Well, we can figure this out tomorrow. It's getting late, and we should be ready if he have to fight tomorrow. Antonio commanded. Both Thomas and I nodded, and we went into our sleeping bags near the fire, though I could only think about what had just transpired. _What was that, and why did Gality dismiss us so fast?_

**Thomas**

I woke up as Stephen was tapping my shoulder. "Wake up! We have to get going!" I stood up, and rolled up my sleeping bag, and then followed Antonio and Stephen towards one of the caves. We walked through it for about ten minutes, and saw nothing.

"Thomas! Stephen! Over here!" We both ran over to Antonio, where he was looking at a steel panel in the cave wall.

"What should we do? Stephen asked.

"I don't know." Just then, security turrets came out of the ceiling of the cave, and started shooting at us. We ran behind the cave wall, but then we heard the sound of something turning off, and footsteps. We came out from behind the wall to see the Gardevoir standing there, along with someone else standing beside her, with a cloak on. We stood in the opening blocking them from escaping, which was about twenty feet long.

"Who are you, and what are you doing here?" Stephen asked the cloaked character.

"You won't find out, but you're friend will!" The cloaked Pokemon pushed a button on a machine, and both the cloaked Pokemon and Antonio fell down a pitfall trap, and it closed after them.

"It seems like you didn't expect anyone else to be here, eh Thomas?" The Gardevoir mocked.

"How do know my name?"

"Not too bright out of combat, huh? Do you really think that there aren't cameras around the base?" I thought about that for a moment, then realised that I was an idiot.

"It seems that you have split from Gality." Stephen stated. The Gardevoir looked very angry at the mention of his name.

"Don't mention that waste of space. I know what he is." Me and Stephen looked at each other. We were both confused about what that meant.

"Well, we're here on a mission, and there's only one result that satisfies the mayor!" Stephen went to his battle stance, and I did the same, getting ready to do our original battle plan, just minus a member.

**Antonio**

I got out of the water and swam to an island in this weird underground cave. The cloaked Pokemon pulled off his soaked cloak, revealing a Speed Forme Deoxys. " Peter West, The Master Renegade?"

"I see you've done your homework, Antonio."

"You controlled Thomas' mind, didn't you?"

"Smart one, I see." Peter walked over to my island, using Magikarp in the water as stones as I backed up to the other side. I prepared X-Scissor, and charged at Peter, but he disappeared from my sight before I could even use the move. Then, I was launched across the water and onto the other island. _Extreme Speed. Of course. _I thought as I fired Psycho Cut while he was crossing the water on the Magikarps, but he jumped in the air and fired Psycho Boost at me. I dodged the brunt of the blast, but the psychic force hitting the ground knocked me back regardless. I got up to see Peter laughing. "You know you can't beat me. Just imagine how your friends are doing up there!"

**Thomas**

I ran backwards to pick up Stephen after he was hit with a Psycho Boost. I basically dragged him back up the cave system. I set him down behind a rock. I looked over his tattered clothes and the pain in his face. "Stay here." I walked to the front of the branch of the cave, where the Gardevoir was looking for us.

"Oh Thomas and Stephen, where did you go? You're ruining my fun!" She yelled just before I used Brick Break on her, catching her off guard and sending her flying into the wall. She brushed off the dust off her dress, and prepared another Psycho Boost. "Any last words?" I barely heard those words. I charged Psycho Cut in both of my arms, and tried to remember what Gality had told me. _You may not be on my side anymore Gality, but you taught me some dangerous things. _The Gardevoir fired the Psycho Boost at me, but it bounced off me as I began floating in the air. "Not this again!" The Gardevoir said as I started firing Psycho Cuts everywhere, shaking the entire cave system.

**Antonio**

I dodged one of Peter's Zen Headbutts after wasting all of his energy to perform Extreme Speed when rocks began falling from the sky. I charged at him with an X-Scissor, which he dodged again, and then I had to run to the right to avoid more rocks. Peter then began using Psychic to throw rocks at me, which I cut in half with Psycho Cut, then dodged the pieces until one of the falling rocks hit me in the back of the head, knocking me over. Peter walked over to where I had fallen, laughing. "A great warrior knocked out by a rock. Pathetic!" Peter charged a Psychic, but before he could fire it, I felt myself being warped, and then I was out in the snow. Seconds later, Thomas appeared, laying down, gasping for air, and Stephen, lying down, most likely severely injured. Then, Gality appeared, standing in front of all of us.

"Seems like that didn't work, huh?" He laughed in front of all of us. I went over to Stephen to make sure that he was okay.

"Gality, why did you do that?"

"Well, I needed to give you all possible time to see if you would change your minds."

"I don't believe that." Gality turned around to face the city, which was lit up as the sun was setting.

"Believe what you want." I began to prop up Stephen on my backpack, seeing he was hit with a Psycho Boost.

"Gality, how did you teleport that far?" He pulled out a pink, glowing stone.

"This rock. It is the psychic elemental rock, and it allows me to teleport twenty miles and make illusions of myself. Also, before I go, next time you use a double move Thomas, try not to destroy a mountain." Gality then teleported away before Thomas could tackle him.

"He just keeps mocking us!" Thomas yelled angrily, obviously somewhat recovered.

"Thomas, how much of the Psycho Boost did Stephen take?" I asked, getting Thomas' mind off Gality for a couple of minutes.

"He took it directly in the chest. He didn't move quickly enough."

"Well, we're going to have to carry him back to the hotel. We aren't that far away." Thomas groaned, and we unrolled a medical stretcher that I had in my backpack, and started walking. "Thomas, is Gality really as far gone as the community says that he is?"

"Of course he is! He just came back to mock us!" We remained silent for the rest of the walk, but Thomas' statement confused me. _Gality just saved our lives. Why does Thomas not see that? Plus, why does the community say that he is completely evil now? He wouldn't have even gave us a chance if that was true! _I thought as we walked into the city limits, and to the local hospital.


	21. Chapter 20: Back Into Reality

**Five Days after the return of the Gallade Royal Guard to Growen Town, February 13**

**Cynthia**

I walked into Gality's workshop to see him studying some sort of pink rock, along with another that looked like it had no energy left. He turned around to see me, though it was still odd to see him with a sling on his right arm. "So, Mr. Gality, you usually bring Steven and Blue to your workshop. Why did you summon me today?"

"Steven could have suffocated on the last adventure, and Blue lost his Pidgeot to ice. I would feel bad throwing them back out there." I nodded in understanding.

"So, why have you brought me here?"

"The Negative Zapily helped absorb the electricity in my legs last time, and I think the equivalent ghost variant will help Luke escape the effect of Nightmare. It's slowing breaking him, and if we wait too much longer, his mind may be permanently altered. I brought you here because I don't trust myself going alone with one arm, and I'm not going to bother Selena. Are you in?"

"I'll go on the mission. What do we have to do?"

"The only place that I know of that has the stone is the Gardevoir Community. The problem with that is the incident at Tavabrook was recorded on security cameras that both the Gardevoir and Gallade Communities got access to. The Gardevoir know that I could possibly know where Jubilee is, and could capture both of us. Stealth is of the essence."

"Do we need anything special for this mission?"

"No."

"Well, should we be going, Mr. Gality?"

"I talked to Luke's friend Henry, and he agreed to fly us there with the help of one of his buddies. Do you have a problem with that?"

"No, I do not."

"Good. Then let's get going!" We outside of the base into the cold February air, where Henry and his friend were waiting. We mounted them, and then they flew us off into the direction of the Gardevoir Community, though one thing was stuck in my mind throughout the flight: What happens if I was to be caught?

**Blue**

I walked into Red's room, since the door was open. I assumed that he would be in the back area, where he had created a small pond where Pokemon like Magikarp, Pidgey, Poliwag, and other Pokemon would live. He was sitting in the back corner on a bench, feeding Pidgey. I saw down next to him, and he sat the empty back of seeds on the ground, which on Pidgey investigated for more food. "Red, why did you immediately bail when Steven asked about going to Mount Dernek?" Red stared off into the distance for a while.

"That mountain wasn't always called Dernek." I was caught off guard by the fact that Red actually said something. He laughed quietly. "Are you surprised that I said something?"

"Well, yes. I haven't heard you speak since the day Giratina took over." Red flinched for a second on the remembrance of that day. "You usually answer my questions with drawings, or some other method."

"That won't really work for this situation. That mountain was called Mount Silver before, where the only thing that happened was that I would train, and then be beaten. I could train until my Pokemon were all level 100, but I would still lose. The only memory that the mountain brings me is misery and defeat." I put my hand on his shoulder.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Didn't think that it was necessary." There was a silence as a Magikarp started flying out of the water, trying to compete with others to see who could go the highest. "So, how did the mission go?" I slumped a little in my posture just thinking about the mission.

"Well, we got the stone that Gality needed. Steven was caught in an avalanche, and the device that supplied him with sufficient oxygen cracked, so we had to rush down the mountain after getting the stone. We had to use our flying mounts to get down, and since Steven's Skarmony was injured, we went down with Charizard and Pidgeot. We did get down in time, but Pidgeot froze." Red quickly looked up from a Pidgey in front of him to me.

"The original one from our adventure in Kanto?" I nodded. "That was your last original Pokemon, wasn't it?"

"Yes. Pidgeot was the last thing I had to remember Kanto."

"I'm sorry, Blue." There was another period of silence.

"So, I've been meaning to ask you a question for a while." I stated, trying to get my mind off Pidgeot.

"What?"

"Why have you not said anything since that day?" Red closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"After that day, when we fled through the cave systems to escape the Insurgent Pokemon, I could only think about how it all went wrong. How we could have defeated Giratina. That day keeps me up at night. I have dreams that enact the exact events that occured, whether I saw them or not. Pallet Town being destroyed, getting beat back into the caves, losing, watching the world devolve into Giratina's empire. Sometimes, I have flashbacks of that day, when things during the day remind me of it."

"Don't hide these things from us, okay? We can help you!" Red nodded. "So, if you have any more of these memories, promise you'll tell me!"

"Okay Blue, I will."

"Good!" We sat on the bench for about an hour, just looking at the Pokemon play in the small reserve. "Well, do you want to do anything specific?" Red stood up and grabbed a Pokeball, containing a Pidgey.

"It may not be the same Pidgeot, but you need a team member. How about I help you train this Pidgey here?"

"I would like that." I started walking towards the Pidgey, and seeing what kind of moves that it already knew, and what commands it would follow.

**Cynthia**

The Charizard landed near a small pond, dropped me off, and then flew away. I followed Gality towards the small town until he motioned for me to stop. He then vanished, and reappeared about ten seconds later. "Follow me." He whispered. We ran parallel to the city until we reached a small creek, then we approached the city. We ducked behind some bushes as some Gardevoir, who looked like police officers of some sort, walked by. I followed Gality as he ran into a house with all of the windows covered, and a repaired area in the wall. He locked the door behind me. "There shouldn't be anyone in here. There's a tunnel that will lead us to the Town Hall, where I believe the stone is."

"Freeze!" I turned around to see a Gardevoir charging a Moonblast, though she didn't look like law enforcement. She stopped her attack when she saw Gality turn around. "You...you know where Jubilee is!"

"Sort of. Why should I tell you?"

"I'm her mother. I haven't seen her in three months."

"Well, I don't know where she is, and you won't report this."

"Understood." I was very confused about what was happening, but I just kept moving through the passage. We walked for about three minutes until we reached a steel door.

"Stay to the side of the door. There's a good chance that there are guards surrounding this entrance. Attack when you think you can." I stood to the side, and Gality broke open the door before entering a room that presumingly had guards in it.

"Don't move, Gallade!" One of them shouted.

"Like this?" Gality replied. I looked through the doorway to see that he had jumped off the ground level. I quickly threw out Milotic.

"Milotic, Surf!" The Surf knocked all of the guards out, and I walked into the room. Gality jumped back down to the ground level.

"Good job." Gality opened the door, leading to a hallway that split into two directions. "You go right, and I'll go left. I don't know exactly where the stone is, but I know it's on this floor. If you find it, just get out!" I nodded, retracted Milotic, walked down the left hallway, and turned left at the second split. I ducked into a room when I voices from the hallway, and when I noticed that they weren't going away, I looked around the room and noticed a map. It showed that there was a vault through the training room, and that was the only way to get there. Great, I thought. The only way to the place that I probably need to go to is through the place with the most guards. I opened the door and continued walking towards the vault, since the Gardevoir had walked past the room. I made it to the hallway that opened up to the training room. There's no way I can take on all of them at once. There has to be at least thirty of them. I then noticed a door, and upon entering it, it revealed a flight of stairs. I climbed them, and they put me at a viewing deck above the training area with three Gardevoir watching the soldiers below.

"How are they doing, General Psyspeed?" One of the Gardevoir beside him asked. Psyspeed? I thought. They must be related to Jubilee. That can't be her mother though…

"What are we going to do with them?" The other Gardevoir asked.

"As you know, we are usually peaceful. However, we must find Jubilee. She is too powerful and unhinged to be out in the wild. Plus, my sister might just destroy the world in worry and misery. Admiral, is your fleet ready for bombardment, if necessary?"

"Yes, sir."

"And you, Air Force Marshall, are the fighters and bombers ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Good. If Jubilee does not come out voluntarily, we will siege her out. Tell your units that I want her alive, if possible!"

"Yes,sir!" The Admiral and Air Force Marshall answered, then they left the room.

"I'm not sure if Jubilee will let Herhen burn to the ground, but if she does, one region is better than the world." General Psyspeed stated to no one,and then left the room. Luckily, there was an exit door opposite of where the General had gone, so I was able to get past the training room. So, that must be Jubilee's aunt. That would explain some of the aggression. I reached the vault, but it was locked by a keypad and a fingerprint lock. This is going to set off an alarm, isn't it? I thought as I threw out Togekiss.

"Togekiss, Air Slash!" I whispered. The AIr Slash went through both panels, and the alarm started as I opened the door into the vault. I looked around the large mound of gold all over the room, and after moving some of it to the side, there was a translucent purple rock sitting there. I picked it up and hid behind a pile of gold when I heard approaching footsteps. I threw out Milotic and had her sit near the top of the pile.

"Come out intruder!" One guard shouted.

"Milotic, Surf!" The Surf went through the door of the vault, causing a few soldiers to back away from the door. Suddenly, reality started to warp, and I was back near the pond that we had landed at. Gality was standing by the edge, looking at a Magikarp. "Mr. Gality, I thought that you couldn't teleport into locations you don't know the layout of!"

"I can't. There was a map on the wall, and after hearing the alarm, I thought that I needed to get over there. Also, if you're going to refer to me as "Mister", you may call me Mr. Swordhand."

"Okay Mr. Swordhand, when will our rides be here?"

"Right now! Gality pointed up at the descending Charizards. I mounted the same one as I did on the way here, and we flew back towards the base.

**Gality**

I jumped off Henry before he could even completely land, and rushed into my workshop. I grabbed the machine that would make use of the stone, and ran towards the Medical Bay as fast as I could. I walked through the doors leading to the hospital rooms. The nurses saw the machine in my hand, and moved out of the way so that I could enter the room. Selena was sitting by the hospital bed, as she'd been doing for nearly 19 days. Selena backed up to the wall as I started to turn on the machine. I walked to the side of the bed, put the machine close to the blackened side of Luke's face, and turned it on. The electricity went through the crystal, and it started to glow. The black on Luke's face slowly started to disappear, and when it had fully dissipated, I turned off the machine. Luke sat up in his bed, panting. "What!? What is this one?!" Just then, Selena ran over and hugged him. "This isn't a nightmare, is it?" I shook my head. Luke stood up and hugged Selena back. "This is real. I can't believe it." Luke kissed Selena and walked over to me. "What happened to you?"

"Well, the Pokemon at the base decided to paralyze me instead. Don't worry about that." Luke nodded and we all walked out of the medical area, and when we arrived at the waiting area, everyone there cheered, and some of them came up to Luke to greet him and ask some questions. I walked towards my workshop to put up the machine, and then start creating machines for everyone at the base that requested them.


	22. Chapter 21: Fissure

**The Day after Luke was freed from Nightmare, February 14**

**Luke**

I walked into Gality's room, where he was sitting on his bed. He motioned me over to a table, which I don't remember him having, and we sat on opposite sides. "So, Luke, you wanted to talk about what happened when you were out of action?"

"Yes. How about we start with the fact that you right arm is paralyzed."

"Well, when you were stuck in that room with the Pokemon that put you under Nightmare, I was in another room, probably close by. They had me tied up to a machine that would electrocute me with a click of a button. They tried to interrogate me, but I was uncooperative, so they put the voltage high enough to knock me out. Turns out, that paralyzed both of my legs and right arm. Luckily, I'm left handed, so I was able to make a machine that could get rid of the paralysis with a piece of Negative Zapily," Gality took out a yellow, sparking stone and put it on the table. "This rock right here. Steven and Blue volunteered to go to Mount Dernek to retrieve it, and they encountered some of Giratina's guard there."

"What was Giratina's guard doing up there?"

"I don't know. Well, they beat the guard, and then camped in a cave for the night. The next day, an avalanche occurred and they jumped on their flying mounts. Skarmory, whom Steven was riding, was hit by a Fire Blast, and they both fell into the avalanche."

"Wait, what Pokemon that can learn Fire Blast was up on Mount Dernek?"

"You're forgetting a major point there. Your community may have taught you that you have a limited move set because those moves work best for your species, but you can learn others. For example, Jubilee has Psycho Boost, but Gardevoir usually don't learn that moves because it's hard for them to use." _Wait, _I thought. _Jubilee had Psychic for the limited time that she was here. How would he know that? _"Well, back on track. Steven's respirator, as I called it, was cracked. That allowed him to breathe at that altitude, so Steven and Blue had to rush of to where the stone was. They got the stone, and then flew down the mountain. According to Blue, Steven had negative eleven seconds of air left."

"I see the stone didn't fully work."

"Yeah. It only worked for my legs, not my arm. I still don't know why."

"Well, how did you manage to get the stone to get rid of Nightmare?"

"Cynthia and I went to the Gardevoir Community to retrieve the ghost stone. I don't know what it is called, because the Gardevoir hoard them so that the Ghost Pokemon don't have advantages over them. The stone was in the vault, and the only stealth way to get there was to go backwards through an escape passage in a house. I thought it was abandoned, but Jubilee's mother was in there. She asked where her daughter was, which I don't really know the answer to, so I made her believe that we weren't ever there."

"Wait, wait! What do you mean by made her believe?!"

"Mind control, of course. What else would it be? A strongly worded letter?" I stood up and walked to the other side of the room.

"Is this still the Nightmare realm?" Gality looked at me, confused, and shook his head. "This happened in the realm. You mind controlled the population."

"How did you get that idea? The realm only works off fears."

"When Jubilee went on multiple mass killing sprees, I thought that maybe something was fishy here. I thought maybe that you had mind controlled her. She has the symptoms of someone who escaped mind control. Gality, did you do that?"

"Of course. She was a violent murderer, and needed to be stopped. You noticed that she acted like a normal human being?"

"And you caused more to die!" I screamed back at Gality. "Your failure to even do what I deem to be immoral correctly caused the death of hundreds, and some of the greatest heroes of the region!"

"And what do you want me to do?"

"Get. Out. Of. This. Base." I charged an Aura Sphere in my hands. "Or I will make you leave by force!" Gality stood up and started to wave his hands oddly. It almost felt like there was a person in my head, but nothing happened. "Get out of my head."

"Why won't it work on you?"

"You gave me a machine to stop psychic attacks on my brain. Now, I know who you are. You are no friend of mine. You are a monster that makes Pokemon do things against their will. Making Pokemon better by force doesn't work. That just makes slaves to do your bidding." I fired the Aura Sphere, breaking a hole in the back wall, revealing the rock behind it. "And I refuse to allow the base to fall to you!"

"So be it." Gality launched a Psycho Cut, which I dodged, and it broke the door in two and flew into someone else's room. _He'll destroy everything here, and could get people hurt. I have to retreat to the arena. _I thought as I ran through the now busted door and towards the emergency stairs. I ran up as fast as I can, even though the stairs and even sometimes the railing behind me was being deleted by Psycho Cuts. I made it up the stairs, and Pokemon in the hallway went from confused to terrified as Psycho Cuts continued flying down the hallway.I rushed down to the training arena, and Gality followed, covering the door in psychic energy. "If you really want this, only one of us is making it out of here." I saw Selena and the leaders of The Remnant rush to the glass and fruitlessly try to open the door.

"Just know that you have brought this upon yourself!" I said as I launched a Meteor Mash in his direction. He Teleported away, and I grabbed his leg when he warped behind me, and threw him into the wall. He got up and Teleported again, this time far behind me where he fired three Psycho Cuts. I jumped to dodge them, but Gality Teleported in front of me, and used Brick Break to knock me into one of the Psycho Cuts. I slowly got up from the side of the arena, and Gality was laughing from the other side.

"You know, from how vehement to fight me for your ideals, you don't have much to back it up!" Gality ran towards me this time, and I did the same. I used Close Combat, and Gality used Brick Break, which caused us to wall each other.

"Well, at least my ideals aren't flawed!"

"You don't get it, Luke! If you were me, you would do the same. I couldn't have survived without mind control!"

"Well I did, and I've gone through a lot!"

"Your life is not comparable to mine!" Gality pushed me back, and then Teleported in front of me, and used Brick Break, but I used Extreme Speed to dodge the attack and hit Gality in the side. He got up quickly, and then started turning pink and floating. I started running to the side and flipping as the Psycho Cuts came in, but it didn't matter. They were more directed than normal, and about ten of them hit me. I could barely move, but I could see Selena knocking on the glass all of the same. Gality started walking towards me. _I promised myself that I wouldn't use this, _I thought, pulling out the odd looking stone. _But sometimes, things have to be done. Mega Lucario will be enough. _I gripped the stone in my hands and felt the power surge through me. I stood up to see Gality now walking backwards.

"You underestimate my resolve." I then charged in with Extreme Speed, which Gality blocked with Protect. I did it again, but instead of hitting him, I pretended to and went behind him, then used Meteor Mash to send him flying. While he was in the air, I repeatedly used Extreme Speed to accelerate him until he hit the wall with enough force to knock him out. I allowed the energy to go back into the mega stone, and then fell to my hands, remembering that I was pretty tired. The energy on the door fell, and Selena and the others rushed in. Cynthia and Blue went to go look at Gality, and the rest came over to me.

"Luke, what happened here?!" Selena asked, picking me up and walking me over to the chairs.

"He mind controlled Jubilee, and her mother yesterday. You know that I don't stand for that."

"Yes, but how did it evolve into this?"

"I told him to leave, or I would make him."

"Luke, you did the best you could do. I rushed down because you conversation was picked up on the hallway security camera." Steven added.

"Well, should we put him in the jail sector?" Selena asked.

"No. He's too intelligent to be stuck there." Red answered. We all looked at Red, confused that our usually silent leader actually said something. "I say that we put him on the far end of the region. If he tries to exact his revenge on the base, we'll be ready. Do you agree?" I nodded, along with anyone else.

"I'll run this over the others." Steven walked over there and explained the plan, which was met with nods. Steven ran back to us. "They agree. Luke, do you think that Henry will be able to do that?"

"I can go ask him." I ran towards the wing that Henry lives in, which had no Pokemon in the way because everyone had been scared into their rooms. I found his door and knocked, and he opened it up.

"What's happening, Luke?"

"Are you willing to take someone to the other side of the Dernek Region?"

"Yes. Who?"

"Gality. He thinks that mind control is okay, and no one here stands for that. I want you to take him there, and leave him. He's currently in the arena. Understand?"

"Yes. One thing before I do, Luke."

"What?"

"Why would he do this?"

"I don't know. I really do not." Henry nodded and rushed over to the arena to take my former friend away from my other friends.

Henry came back through the doors around midnight. "Were you successful, Henry?"

"Yes. Gality is somewhere in the mountains, with enough stuff in order to not freeze to death."

"Good. You may sleep, sorry for keeping you up."

"No problem, Luke." Henry flew back towards his wing in the base, and I walked back to my room where Selena and Helen were just sitting around.

"Daddy, where did Gality go?" I picked her up and set her on my lap.

"He's just going on a vacation, Helen."

**Gality**

I woke up lying on the snow, freezing. I walked around until I found a cave, and started a fire to keep warm. I thought about the day's events, but I just sliced a hole in the mountain in anger, so I thought about my current situation. _Giratina's empire is oppressing people, and The Remnant is unwilling to use force to accomplish their goals. They will fail because they won't act. How could I not see that before? How did I end up in this situation? I can't think of one thing that could get me here… except for Jubilee! That blasted Gardevoir! If I hadn't had met her, or she didn't escape mind control and manipulation, I would still be in The Remnant base, fighting Giratina! I must take them all down. I thought that there were people like my in the world, but apparently not. I will defeat Giratina myself, and if The Remnant get in the way, I will do what must be done. But first, I must find Jubilee. She could be a good weapon. _I walked around the cave to see if there was anything there but rock, but there was nothing. _Why am I taking such a vicious approach to this situation? I just got kicked out of a club. That's the problem. Those are the only people who even kind of supported me. My own father tried to kill me, my friends think that I'm crazy, and the only people that you thought you could trust just kicked you out. THIS IS JUSTIFIED. _I walked out into the cave, and stared up at the sky. "You all will never understand what you have done, and you will regret it all!"


	23. Chapter 22: Aftermath

**Exactly 1.2394 seconds after Gality last said anything, February 14**

**Gality**

"Calm down, Gality. You know what happens when you get angry." I went back in the cave and sat back down. "You think irrationally, and then you do things that you regret." I took a couple deep breaths in order to calm myself down. "Think of a plan." I paced around the fire until I thought of an idea. "So, you're still a renegade, running from the law of your old home, so I can't just go into cities in normal civilian clothes." I looked around in my bag, which they had apparently brought with me. I pulled a light brown cloak out of my bag, though I don't know why there was one there. "Well, I'll look odd compared to the rest of the Pokemon, but at least my face won't be showing if I look down. " I pulled the sleeve of the cloak around my sling, and tucked it behind the end. I walked towards the steep cliff near where I woke up, looking out at the town about a thousand feet below. _Stevenston, _I thought. _I could go to the grand library, like I used to do when I was still living in the community. But what would I look for? _I started to trek down the snowy mountain on a path that was flat enough to walk down. _The plan is to find Jubilee. It may not be my fault, but someone has to get the job done. _The white lights of Stevenston started to approach as I got off the relatively steep part of the mountain. _Wait, how am I going to get to Herhen, and how am I going to beat Jubilee? _My mind lingered on that thought for a moment. _How am I? My most powerful moves basically glance off her. _I walked into the outer limits of the sleeping city. _Gality, do what you're best at. Using your head. I can trap her! _I walked into the library, though it closed about an hour ago. I saw the librarian, Fredrick, turn around.

"The library is closed, so leave!" The Gothielle turned around. "Gality! I haven't seen you in forever!"

"Hello, Frederick. I just came here to do some research."

"Take all the time you need! You know how to get out, and if you leave, please lock up behind you. I'm going to go home and sleep!" I nodded and started walking toward the place that I spent most of my time as a child. I walked over to the AAA-FAA history section, and pulled a book off the shelf titled _History of the Culture of Dernek. _A wall moved out from beside the shelf, and it closed behind me. I walked into the blue room with about a thousand books and a few monitors, which I liked partially because the existence of the room itself was sort of a cliche. I went to the second bookshelf on the right, where all of the books on traps were stored. _There has to be something in here that could stop Jubilee! _I thought as I started on the first book.

**Luke**

I pushed the button on the elevator to bring me to the same floor that I was running away from Gality less than a day before. The stairs were currently off-limits as the architects in the base redesigned them after they fully collapsed. I went to the conference room, as I did many days, though it seemed like the air was different today. There was confusion and disorder in the room. It seemed like Steven hadn't slept much, though he wasn't leading this conversation, Red was. "So, we all know what happened yesterday. However, we must keep going. Steven, you knew the most about Gality's tech. Do you think that you may be able to replicate it?"

"I'll try!" Steven walked out of the conference room.

"Cynthia, keep the other Pokemon from freaking out over this. I know some are in shock about what Gality did, and a similar number are scared that he will come back with a vengeance."

"I can do that, Red. Good luck on what you are doing!" Cynthia also walked out of the room.

"Luke," Red turned towards me. "I need you to dig deeper on why he did this. To be honest, I'm not sure if stranding him was a good idea."

"Well, what else were we supposed to do?" Blue asked.

"We couldn't just lock him in here, yes. He could just mind control us, and even if Luke has a device that could block against those attacks, Luke says that it has a limit." Red started to pace around the table. "Back to what I was saying. He seemed unstable when he was fighting you. Leaving instability alone can be a very risky move." The room was silent for a few seconds. "Well, what's done is done."

"I'm going to get on that assignment you told me to work on, Red." I walked out of the conference room and back into my room, where Selena was just sitting on the bed. "Did you drop Helen off at the park?"

"Yes."

"Okay." I walked over to my dresser and pulled out a laptop that I had found in Gality's workshop. I opened it up, expecting to see a login screen, but the entire computer was wiped of its memory. I started if I could find anything left on the computer when Selena sat next to me.

"Are you okay, Honey?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Not that. You know what I'm talking about." I closed the laptop and sighed.

"No, not really. I feel like I could've handled the situation better."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I just basically told him to leave and attacked him as soon as I heard that he mind controlled people. If I hadn't been under Nightmare beforehand, that wouldn't have happened."

"What did that have to do with it?"

"Nightmare shows the person under it their worst fears, on repeat. The worst ones are repeated over and over, and combined if possible. The one that was repeated the most always started with a normal day, then Gality used mind control on you, and made you fight me. I always had to kill you, then go into hiding as Gality took over the entire world by making them all slaves. When Gality just told me that he was willing to control people's minds, it played out similarly, and I didn't want to have it become reality." Selena put her arms around me.

"Was this prompted by you theorizing that Gality used mind controlled Jubilee?" I nodded. "Luke, it was just a nightmare. It won't actually happen." I embraced her in a hug.

"God, I hope so."

**Gality**

I closed the book titled _How to Stop a Psychic, _finally knowing what to do. "So, my best bet is to overload the most offensively powerful psychic I have ever seen with more power. Risky, but it's my only real option." I said to no one in particular as I walked out of the room, opening the door with the button. I locked up the library just as Frederick said, and I exited the city as quick as I could, because the sunrise was rapidly approaching. _Now, another problem remains, _I thought, getting deeper into the forest. _How will I get to Herhen?_

**Luke**

After about two hours of rummaging through useless computer files, I finally found something in it. There was a group of 324 different pages of writing, each with different dates. _A diary. Why would Gality keep one of these? _"Selena, I found something!" She stopped bouncing a table tennis ball off the wall and turned towards me.

"What is it?"

"It seems like a diary. I'll read this first page." I started skimming it, and the first part seems normal. "The first part is normal, but then it says that 'he finally did it. He killed the stupid Gallade, and he is gone forever, buried in a grave.'" Selena was taken aback by that.

"Gality killed someone? Even when he was fighting you, he didn't finish you off when he had the chance." I nodded.

"Seems odd. I'll read through all of this." I sat there for about five hours, just reading about things that Gality did. Some things were standard. Others were heroic, like when Gality and some other Gallade named Thomas, Stephen, and Antonio stopped a bomb from destroying the Herhen region. Others still were disturbing, like when Gality mind controlled a whole city of Pokemon and made them attack each other. "This is a mixed bag of contradictions, Selena."

"What do you mean?"

"Gality followed up some of his most heroic acts with things that I would deem terrible. It seems like he does what he believes is right, because he writes everything like it is heroic. There is one page that is off here. It seems like it was written by one of Gality's friends named Antonio."

"Well, what does it say?"

"Antonio says that Gality is a very intelligent Gallade, and probably the smartest one there. He also says that he would be a good mayor someday, just like his father, only if he wasn't so passive sometimes."

"So, his father is the mayor of the Gallade Community? How come he never told us this?"

"I don't know."

"Well, is there anything else written there?"

"Yes, there is. Antonio writes that 'Gality could outwit Stephen at anything besides detective work, outfence himself with a sword, and beat anyone in chess. It was almost like he was twenty-five steps ahead of the opponent in everything."

"Interesting. If he can think that far ahead, why does he lose?"

"Just like anyone else. He doesn't know everything, and he just doesn't have the pure power that others have." I closed the laptop and laid down on the bed, somewhat tired after staring at a laptop for seven hours.

"So, who do you think Gality is, Luke?"

"I don't believe that Gality is completely evil and crazy. Some part of me believes that the man that rescued me from never-ending nightmares, and saved my life on some of our daily missions is still there."

"Even after he severely hurt you?"

"Yes."

"Well, on that topic, where did you get that mega stone?"

"Oh yeah, I didn't tell you about that. I never intended to use it, so I didn't think that it was worth talking about. Remember our second date, Selena?"

"Of course. It was about a year and a half ago, and the restaurant we were eating at was attacked. We chased after the Pokemon that had done it into a cave."

"Well, I found a rock in there, and after breaking it open, the stone was in there."

"I don't know how I didn't see that." The room was silent for about ten minutes, both of us just staring at the ceiling. "I'm going to go get Helen." Selena got up and walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

**Blue**

"So, Red, what did you bring me here for?" I asked as we sat down on a bench in his pond area.

"Well, I had another one of those dream flashbacks last night."

"What was this one about?"

"So, I was batting with a few other trainers against some Insurgent Pokemon. Then, an Alakazam showed up at their front lines, and mind controlled a man with a Charizard. The man told the… he told the Charizard to…"

"It's okay, Red." I put my hand on his shoulder. "You can tell me."

"He told the Charizard to use Flamethrower. At himself. The man turned to ashes right in front of me. The other trainers with me ran, and I had to retreat, as I was being overrun."

"That's terrible, Red. I'm sorry that you had to experience that." We sat there and watched the Magikarp jump for a while, then Red tapped me on the shoulder.

"I have an idea. How about you see how well your new Pidgeot can fly you around. As you can see, I set up hoops on the ceiling just to train your Pidgeot.

"I will do that." I threw out Pidgeot, and looked up to see a starting platform above me. "Pidgeot, bring me up there." Pidgeot did as instructed. I looked at the circle of hoops laid out in front of me. "Pidgeot, I want you to fly me through that squiggle of hoops, starting from the left. Can you do that?" Pidgeot nodded, and took off. Pidgeot went through the first two easily, then Pidegot had to make a sharp turn to get through the next four. That was a problem, however, because it caused me to fall off when we reached the seventh. I fell into the water, seeing Magikarp and Finneon quickly swimming away. I swam to the surface of the water, where Red was waiting on the dock to help pull me up. He did so, and I stood, soaked, on the dock. Pidgeot landed behind Red on the dock. "Maybe we need some work." Red laughed.

"That wasn't bad for your first flight, Pidgeot. Keep working!" Pidgeot nodded, and I retracted him.

"I should go change clothes." Red nodded, and I started walking back to the entrance of Red's room, trying not to get water everywhere.


	24. Chapter 23: What do You Believe?

**Three days after Luke found Gality's Diary, February 19**

**Stephen**

I woke up in the hotel room, with Antonio sitting on the couch, watching television. I started to sit up, but then I started feeling like an empty bottle of water. Antonio noticed that I had sat up, and walked over to the bed where I was sitting. "How do you feel, Stephen?"

"Drained."

"Understandable. Do you even know what happened?"

"Well, I was fighting that Gardevoir, then I was here, so I'll say no.":

"From what Thomas said, you were hit directly by a Psycho Boost. Gality teleported us out, and Thomas and I carried you back."

"Gality saved us? How would he do that, and why?"

"How, that would be with that psychic rock. Why, I currently don't know."

"From what he said in that weird psychic vision thing, it is possible that he still cares about us."

"Where are you getting that from? I know he saved us, but he said the "reason" for that was for us to make up our mind, which I don't believe."

"If he really wanted us to get out of the way, he would do it himself."

"You know that he couldn't beat us three-on-one, straight up."

"That's not how he would do it. You know how quickly he could take down Thomas without laying a finger on him."

"You're right there." Antonio walked over to the window and closed the blinds. "Thomas and I want to return to the community."

"Why?"

"Thomas says that there is no way that we can capture the Gardevoir."

"Fair. I'm willing to return, but someone else is going to have to drive."

"That's what Thomas was doing. He assumed that you would agree, so he has already has the boat ready. Are you able to really walk?"

"We'll see." I attempted to stand, but I stumbled, and Antonio stopped me from slamming into the ground. "It seems that is a no."

"Its okay. I'll help you to the boat." Antonio put his arm on my shoulder, and started walking me to the elevator. We arrived on the bottom floor, Antonio thanked the Pokemon manning the desk, and towards the dock. As Antonio said, Thomas had the boat parked in the closest spot to the hotel. Antonio helped me into the boat, and then I stumbled into the seat. Antonio sat across from me, and Thomas started backing up the boat.

"Stephen, next time you try and use Protect, make sure the thing hitting you doesn't outrank you in energy."

"I'm okay, Thomas, thanks for asking."

"You're still standing! You're fine!" Thomas drove the boat until he got out of the no wake zone, then put it into full throttle.

"So, do you know where Gality broadcasted his psychic vision?"

"Not exactly. I can when we get back to the community. It should only take about an hour."

"Well, don't work too hard." Thomas grinned from the driver's seat.

"Well, don't take too long. I want to stop that little annoying pest!" Thomas leered, looking back to us in the backseat.

"He was our friend at one time, you know." I replied.

"Well, not anymore. He's a renegade, Stephen."

"He did save your life, Thomas." Antonio countered.

"I didn't need saving, Antonio." We were all silent after that.

**Antonio**

Thomas parked the boat into the dock, and jumped off the boat quickly. I had to help Stephen off the boat, and walk him to the town hall. Thomas and Mayor Swordhand were already talking when we walked in. When the Mayor saw me basically carrying Stephen in the room, he motioned for the guards to help him to a seat. I sat in between Thomas and Stephen, and the Mayor started walking around the room. "I'm assuming that you were unsuccessful?"

"Correct. We were outclassed." Thomas complained.

"That was to be expected." A Gardevoir I recognized walked from the corner of the room behind the mayor's desk.

"General Psyspeed!" Thomas exclaimed, looking at the Gardevoir wearing a pure gray dress, with three medals and nearly twenty achievements.

"Yes, young Guardsman."

"What are you doing here, general?" I asked.

"I have joined with Mayor Swordhand to try and capture my niece. I see that you have found her."

"Unfortunately." Stephen whined.

"General, please stand outside for a second. I need to discuss some things with my Guardsman." the Mayor stated. General Psyspeed nodded, then left the room. "Gentlemen, why did you fail?"

"We weren't powerful enough, sir." Thomas answered.

"I see." the Mayor hit a button on his desk, and we all fell into a prison cell, being held above lava.

"What just happened?" Thomas said, rubbing his head. Stephen was groaning over in the corner.

"You've been thrown in a cell, that's what!" the Mayor's voice boomed from speakers somewhere.

"Why are you doing this?"

"You guys failed me. You know I expect highly of my Guardsman."

"Then why not just let us go?" I asked.

"I'm sorry, but that's not how this community works." A piece of metal peeled back from the wall, showing the Mayor behind a piece of glass.

"That hurt badly." Stephen complained, sitting up.

"Stephen, we have more important matters right now!" Thomas yelled. The Mayor smiled from behind the glass.

"Thomas, there's another problem. You must care for the safety of your teammates…"

"Coming from you, who just threw us in a cage!' Thomas snapped back. The Mayor just ignored him.

"But you also must know when to dispose of the pawns, if they are not good enough."

"So, Gality was right." I put together all of the signs that Gality had given us, and the times he just straight up told us this is what happened to him.

"Correct. My son is a failure in many ways, but he is intelligent. I know he knew what I would do as Mayor, but he didn't want to defy me, nor believe it."

"So, what are you going to do with us?" Thomas asked.

"What do you think?" The Mayor laughed, hitting a switch that slowly lowered us towards the lava. "It's cliche, but I enjoy it!" He then sat down on the chair behind the glass, watching us. Stephen motioned for me to sit next to him, and I did. Thomas did not do so, and tried to kick the bars of the cage to no avail.

"What, Stephen?"

"I made this cage, and always have a failsafe in case that someone gets locked in. The seven bars on the far right will fall out if you hit the top, and the bottom of all of them." Stephen whispered as Thomas tried to use Psycho Cut to break open the cage, but they were absorbed by the bars. "Wait until you get to the point where the glass is below where The Mayor is sitting."

"But won't that…"

"Yes. You'll have to go without me."

"I can't do that!"

"You must. I cannot make that jump. I have a way out that is infinitely more probable."

"Okay, Stephen. But I better see you when Thomas and I get out of here!"

"You will." I stood up and motioned for Thomas to stop punching the bars. He stopped, though he looked confused as to why I was so calm. I waited for the window to come into sight, and kicked the top and bottom of the bars. The bar plummeted into the lava, causing a splash. Thomas saw what I was doing, and we did that until all of the breakable ones were broken.

"What about Stephen?"

"He'll come, Thomas. Just go!" I jumped towards the glass, using two Psycho Cuts to cut a hole in it. I landed and rolled forward so that Thomas wouldn't land on me. An alarm sounded off.

"ALL UNITS! ROYAL GUARDSMAN THOMAS AND ANTONIO ARE ESCAPING. FIND THEM IMMEDIATELY!"

"We should probably run!" I yelled over the noise, and then I ran out into the hallway, with Thomas behind me.

**Stephen**

I watched as my friends ran through the door of the room, then to how the cage was still moving downwards. _I have little energy left in me, _I thought. _But I really only have one option. _I tried to remember what Gality had told me about telepathy. _Focus, he said. Doing it wrong can result in undesired consequences. _I used telepathy to talk to anyone in the region, since I didn't have the power to direct it at the moment, nor the skill. _Help me! _I thought. I had to lie down because every muscle in my body felt like it was empty. Out of energy. After no one came after a minute, I knew what was going to happen. _Well, I guess I get to know what a cake feels like in the oven. _Suddenly, I was not in the cage, but in a forest somewhere. I looked around with the little strength I had to see a Pokemon under a cloak. For a second, I thought it was Peter, but that wouldn't make any sense. "You're welcome." _Gality._

"You...were...right."

"I know. I'm glad you see what I meant." Then, he was gone, and everything went dark.

**Thomas**

I ducked behind a pillar as a few more Psycho Cuts came whizzing past me on my left. Antonio was on my right, able to fire back, but only because he was behind a wall and not a random pole. "Are there any better exits, Antonio?" I asked, diving over to the wall that he was standing behind.

"The main two entrances and no-gos. They will be the most guarded." Antoni'o said, returning fire at the increasing number of people coming after us.

"How about the side entrances?" I replied, trying to fend off attacks from the other direction. "We're being flanked here!"

"We could get through those, but not all of the Gallade in front of us! We need a new plan!"

"I have nothing besides fight to the bitter end!" The Psycho Cuts were even more plentiful, and even knocking out one guard didn't matter at this point.

"Bad plan!" Antonio remarked. "I'm getting overwhelmed!"

"Same!" We both hid from the onslaught the best we could.

"I have an idea!" Antonio stopped returning fire and then fired straight up through an air vent. "Come on!" I jumped up there, Antonio helped pull me up, and then put the cover back. We crawled through the vent, which definitely wasn't built for Gallade.

"I never thought that I would be doing this."

"What? You don't like spy movies or something?"

"That's a movie! There are actually people trying to kill us!" We crawled until we hit a dead end in the system. "Well, now what?" Just then, Psycho Cuts started ripping through the vent system.

"You can't hide from me!" The Mayor's voice echoed through the vent. I shot a Psycho Cut at the ceiling, revealing dirt instead of cement. That gave me an idea.

"Antonio, look out!" Antonio moved back as far as he could, and I used the most powerful Psycho Cut I could to try and create a tunnel to the surface. I did the same thing two more times, causing a small sinkhole. "Let's go!" Antonio and I climbed through the dirt and rocks, putting rips in our clothes. We got to the top of the pit and just started running into the woods. I heard the shouts of other Gallade behind me, but they faded semi-quickly. We ran until we were out of breath, then stopped to take a break.

"Thomas, what do we do from here?"

"I have no idea."

"Well, Mayor Swordhand is probably going to put a bounty on our heads. We need to go somewhere." Antonio paced in a circle for a minute. "My only thought is to go to the place that Gality told Stephen about. Only problem with that is that I don't know where Stephen is!" We thought for a moment, but them I saw a bush that seemed slightly squished. I walked over to it to see Stephen just laying there.

"Looks like we won't have to look far." Antonio ran over to me. He immediately tried to hear Stephen's heartbeat.

"He's alive, but not much longer if we don't do something."

"Well, I don't know where to go!" Just then, Stephen slowly moved his hand over to his bag.

"Left pouch, that's where to go…" Stephen was talking so quiet that I didn't even know if he was saying anything. Antonio picked up the psychic tracking thing that Stephen was using.

"Help me pick him up, Thomas!" I did as he said, and we ventured off into a place that could very well be a trap, or an enemy stronghold, or…

**Mayor Swordhand**

I looked out over the balcony and into the woods that swallowed the old Guardsmen. "So, when will the attack commence?" I heard General Psyspeed ask as she walked over to where I was standing.

"Whenever you're ready. My men can be ready in five minutes."

"Well, I was asking that because of the Gallade that fled into the forest."

"Them? Not a problem. Most of them couldn't even beat my son in a fight."

"What about the other one?"

"He'll come back. I know it." The General looked confused, but didn't press for more answers.

"I want to attack in one week."

"That will be fine." The General nodded, and walked away. I went back to looking at the woods for about two hours, with my cape swaying in the wind. I thought about strategies, counterattacks, possible resistance.

"Sir, the workday is over." I turned around to see my lead bodyguard.

"Yes." I walked down from the town hall balcony, and to my house. I closed all of the blinds and locked all of the doors, then went to the basement and locked that door as well. I snuck out of the secret entrance, and all the way into my airplane hangar in the mountain. I got into the plane, started it up, and ventured towards the Distortion World Portal.

I landed the plane and walked into the portal, watching the world turn colorful to monochrome. Everything was shades of dark purple, except the Pokemon stuck here to mine for eternity, never to break the rock in front of them. Giratina turned around, levitating off the ground, when I approached. I dropped to one knee and bowed before the ruler of the land. "How is the mission going?"

"Well. We are preparing to go find her, or burn her with the town."

"Good." Giratina started to turn away.

"Wait! You said that something would be done about my son!"

"He will be dealt with, and I have an idea how to!" Giratina bellowed, laughing afterwards.


	25. Chapter 24: Reversal

**Three Hours after The Royal Guardsmen lost their jobs, still February 19**

**Antonio**

"Antonio, are we anywhere close?" Thomas whined from behind me. I tried to see how close we were, but I had to use one hand to hold Stephen up, so it took a few minutes to navigate the device.

"We seem to be approaching it. It should be about half a mile ahead of us."

"Good. Also, after all of this, Stephen needs to lose some weight!"

"Thomas, he weighs the least of all of us."

"Too bad!"

"I have an alternate solution. How about you gain some muscle?"

"Coming from you? I could bench press you!"

"Enough of this! We have arrived at our destination, apparently." We looked around, seeing nothing but a rocky hill.

"That thing must be wrong! There's nothing here!"

"Hold on, Thomas. It seems like it is indicating that there is something inside of the hill." We walked over to the door, and I knocked on the rock.

**Luke**

"So, we must create a plan for…" Steven began to say when the siren went off inside the conference room.

"What's that for?" Selena asked. Steven pulled up a video screen, showing three Gallade, two with their clothes horribly ripped, and carrying another one.

"They seem to be knocking on the door, as if they know that we are here." Steven announced. "Should we let them in?"

"That could be a massive security risk, Steven!" Cynthia replied.

"Yes, but the Gallade that they are carrying looks pretty bad. I vote we let them in!" Red countered.

"I agree with Red. The nearest town is about three hours away, and I don't know if he could make it that long." Blue stated.

"I say that we don't! We do not need more Gallade in this base!" Selena demanded.

"I think we should let them in." I said, with Selena giving me a confused look.

"I want to let them in. If they are against us, they will not escape." Steven stated as he walked through the door. I followed him to the door, and Steven opened it.

"I think that you're… not crazy anymore!" The one on the left said as they walked in. Steven and I helped carry the Gallade towards the Medical Bay, and then the Blissey and Chansey there took him to a room. The two Gallade looked around the waiting room, seemingly very confused.

"Hello, Gallade." I said to the one on the left. "Can you come with me for a moment?"

"Sure." The Gallade followed me out of the waiting room and back towards the main entrance.

"What is your name, sir?"

"Antonio." That caught me off guard for a second. _Could it really be…?_

"Would your last name happen to be Starrin?"

"Actually, yes. How did you know that?"

"Do you know a Gallade named Gality?"

"Yes, I did. Well, at least I thought I did."

"What do you mean by that?" We both sat down on a bench.

"He fled the community a while ago, and has been toying with our group ever since. A few months ago, he would have taken a Hyper Beam for us, and now.."

"Well, back to how I knew your name, you wrote an entry in Gality's diary."

"How did you have access to that?"

"We worked as an engineer here. I thought he was my friend at one point." I paused, still saddened having to think of that. "He even saved me from the effects of Nightmare, and helped me on many missions. But then, I learned that he was mind controlling people, and we kicked him out." The Gallade stood up.

"I was never a supporter of him doing that, but I couldn't stop him. The community supported him in using it, and so did his father."

"Well, how did you get in this situation, with two of you with ripped up clothes, and one of you absolutely defeated?"

"We returned from a mission in Herhen, and the Mayor tried to execute us for failing."

"Oh." We walked back to the Medical Bay, and to the Blissey running the front desk. "Where is the Gallade staying?"

"Left wing, second room, Mr. Stonewall." I thanked the Blissey, and walked into the room. The other Gallade was sitting in the chair across from the door. A Chansey was explaining his condition to him.

"Well, you are lucky. Another ten minutes, and he would be a goner." The Chansey said, and then walked out of the room.

**Thomas**

"Who do you have here, Antonio?" I asked.

"A person who knew Gality, that's who."

"He does? Where is that scoundrel?"

"I have no idea at the moment." the Lucario answered. "We banished him to the mountains on the other side of the region." I sighed.

"Well, that's just great!" Just then, a _human _and another Lucario walked into the room. "There are also humans here, Antonio!"

"And what would be the problem with that?" The human said.

"That your race is still alive! The community told us.."

"I'm going to stop you right there, Thomas. We were just betrayed by the place that we believed in most, so whatever they said is mostly likely incorrect!" Antonio interrupted, his leader instincts kicking in. "So, sit down, and let me handle this!" I did as he commanded, sighing.

"What's… what's going on here?" Stephen started to sit up, and then grimaced in pain, laying back down.

"Stephen!" Antonio stood next to him.

"Where are we?"

"We're at the point where your sensor showed."

"Alright."

"What sensor do you speak of?" the male Lucario asked.

"My old friend Gality had created a sensor that could track psychic signals and projections." Stephen slowly sat up. "He broadcasted his voice to us when we were in the Herhen region from this base."

"He did not tell me that he could do that." the male Lucario replied. "My name is Luke, by the way, and this is my wife, Selena." Selena gave Stephen a look of anger and annoyance at the same time.

"And that would be Steven Stone to your left, though I don't know how that is possible."

"What is possible, and isn't anymore, I don't know, Stephen. Also, I'm assuming that Gality told you that information."

"Correct. He studied some of your battle tendencies and styles back in the community."

"Well, I have a question for you, Gallade!" Selena interjected. "What were you doing in Herhen?"

"Besides getting wrecked, we were.."

"Stephen! That's confidential information!" I interrupted.

"To who, Thomas?" He replied. To that, I had no answer. "That's what I thought. We were there to capture a Gardevoir that was killing the regional protectors."

"Jubilee?"

"If that was her name, then yes. She's the reason that I'm stuck in a hospital bed right now."

"That's debatable." I commented.

"And why would that be, Thomas?"

"You should have dodged instead of blocked."

"Sorry, Mr. I Studied Every Type of Weapon and Fighting Style Since I Was Three! I don't have that kind of knowledge!" I didn't press because Stephen was starting to get annoyed. "Well, back on track. We returned from there to the Gallade Community, where Mayor Swordhand threw us in a cage above lava for failing. They escaped through a hole in the bars. I had to think of another solution, since I was too beat up from the fight with "Jubilee".

"That's actually what I was going to ask, Stephen." Antonio stated. "How did you end up half-awake in a bush?"

"When you guys left, I used the last bit of energy to contact anyone through a psychic message. Gality happened to save me from that trap."

"Gality?" Luke asked, confused. "Did he say anything?"

"The only thing he said was you're welcome, and after I admitted that he was right about his father, he said that 'he was glad I saw what it meant'".

"He is not what I remember him to be. Remember the sixth mission that we were on, Stephen?"

"Yes, Antonio. I was fifteen, so that would be four years ago…"

"What do you mean by mission?" Selena asked. Antonio threw her his badge, which was someone not destroyed. I felt around my pockets, but mine was missing. "Gallade Royal Guardsmen, 9th Division, Sergeant Antonio Starrin." Selena read the badge. "Gality was part of a Guarding Division?"

"Since he was seven, so for about ten years, yes."

"Well, what did he do on this mission that you remember foldly?" Steven asked.

"We were told to infiltrate a hydroelectric dam controlled by Bisharp. We accidentally.."

"*cough**cough* you!" I corrected.

"...opened a hatch that was holding a large amount of water." Stephen said, ignoring me. "He told us to run, and he held back the entire column for as long as he could with Protect. We found him later, nearly drowned." There was silence in the room. "On a different note, I'm going to assume he's not here, or he would be in this room." Steven nodded.

"We released him into the mountains about five days ago."

"Did he try and mind control people again?"

"Has he done that before?" Luke asked.

"Yes, unfortunately. His father always told him to use his ability as a weapon, and he always wanted to please him."

"Well, we should leave you three alone. We'll go do our jobs for the day." Steven said, walking out of the room with the two Lucario.

**Luke**

I walked back into my room with Selena on my heels. Helen was bouncing up and down on our bed, with the sheets over in the corner of the room. "Helen, what did I tell you about destroying the bed!" I said as Helen stopped jumping.

"I know, Daddy." She started to drag the sheets back on the bed when Selena motioned for me to sit down.

"Do you want to talk about something, Selena?"

"Yes, I do. Why are you standing with the friends of Gality?"

"What's wrong with them?"

"They worked with the man that betrayed us! And hurt you!"

"That's not entirely his fault, Selena." Helen was listening to our conversation, confused. "Helen, how about you go to the park for a couple of hours?"

"Okay!" Helen ran out the door and towards the elevator.

"I mean, it is his fault. His mind controlled people!"

"All he ever wanted to do was impress his father." I grabbed Gality's computer and booted it up. "In the notes I took in his diary, there are almost three hundred mentions of him just wanting to impress his father, do what he says, do anything to make him happy. You should know better than me how wanting to impress someone can change you."

"My mother was different!" Selena slipped for a split second. "She wasn't a leader, just a person trying to help their daughter!" I decided to change the topic, as this could get out of hand.

"Also, those Gallade didn't do anything wrong. Just because we are Gality's friends doesn't mean that we're evil!"

"Fair point." Selena got up and knelt next to me. "I just wanted to make sure that you are safe, Luke."

"You know that I can defend better than a brick, right?"

"I know that." Selena ran her hand along my face. "It's just… you mean so much to me. You're the reason I'm here today." Selena held her hand under my chin. "I love you, Luke."

"I love you too, Selena." I felt her lips against mine, and everything in the room melted.

**16 Hours after the Former Gallade Royal Guardsman reached the Remnant Base, February 20**

**Stephen**

A Chansey walked into the room. "Stephen, are you feeling alright?"

"About back to normal, actually." I said, sitting up in the bed.

"Good. You are allowed to go!" The Chansey replied, leaving the room. I followed her out, with Antonio and Thomas on my heels. Steven was waiting for us in the waiting area in the hospital.

"Follow me, Gallade." He walked out of the waiting room door. I followed, but Antonio pretty much dragged Thomas behind him. We turned into a room with a single table and projector. "You may sit, if you like." Antonio and I sat, but Thomas refused to sit down.

"What are we here for?" Antonio asked.

"Well, I never really told you what this place is. We are a group that wants to bring down Giratina, who destroyed the world before this one."

"What do you want to do, make Pokemon slaves again?!" Thomas snapped. Antonio had to keep him from punching Steven across the face, though he didn't seem phased.

"Of course not. That didn't work before, so why would we try it again?" Steven answered. "Our group here believes that leaving the world under the rule of Giratina allows too much death to occur. This place is a warzone, and Giratina will let this world implode."

"I think that it is fine the way it is!" Thomas yelled.

"Well, everyone is entitled to an opinion." Steven replied, still unfazed by Thomas' screaming.

"Why did you bring us here?" I asked.

"We always need new members, and you guys seem to be similar to other Pokemon here. I will leave you guys alone to make a decision." Steven walked out of the room, and it looked like Thomas was trying his hardest not to run out of the room and tackle him.

"I'll join them." I stated. Antonio and Thomas, especially seemed confused.

"Just like that?" Antonio asked.

"You're willing to join those animals? They're humans, the things that enslaved Pokemon!"

"One, Thomas, you were told that by an organization that we aren't aligned with anymore. Two, Antonio, it isn't just like that. We were told our whole lives how prestigious the role of Royal Guardsman was. We were also told how important and hard finding them was. Yet, we were discarded like tissues. Disposable. I never told you guys, but Mayor Swordhand reports to Giratina. If other communities controlled by Giratina are anywhere close to ours, this needs to end. And we also couldn't do it alone, no matter how powerful we are." Antonio was seemingly considering the idea, but Thomas was having none of it.

"That may be true, but you have no proof that it was Giratina's influence." Thomas replied.

"I'll support Stephen on this one. That is a very good point, and no one else should have to go though what we did. The more I think about it, we're lucky. If Stephen didn't make that cage, we would have melted!"

"I can't stay here." Thomas stated.

"Why, Thomas?" I replied.

"It's not just because I don't trust the humans here. It's because some part of me likes the death and the war. I was bred to be an assassin, warrior, and tactician. I simply cannot support this organization. It will destroy the only way I know how to think and live. If you two believe that this is best, I will have to leave." Thomas speech floored me. _Does he really believe that he only lives for war?_

"Thomas, there's more than battle in the world!" Antonio exclaimed.

"Antonio, Stephen, it's been nice knowing you two. You are the only true friends that I will probably ever have." Thomas walked out of the door and towards the exit of the base. "But I cannot fight with you any longer." He reached the large stone door and opened it. I opened my mouth to protest, but Thomas stopped me. "There is no changing my mind, Stephen." I watched as my friend of sixteen years walked into the dark forest, the sun not even risen, probably never to be seen again.


End file.
